PC or MAC?
When we told our Somers customer that we use Apple computers for our website development and we don't really have any problem with them, the customer immediately asked us, "Well, then maybe we should just buy an Apple. What's your opinion?"
How scary is that question! Orange Crystal Consulting purchased a state-of-the-art iMac G5 about a year ago. We have migrated many applications to it and we are very happy with it. We have found it to be pleasurable, although not perfect (although maybe recent crashes of HP printer software are not the Mac's fault).
We find the MAC convenient for doing business with MAC customers and we find the PC convenient for dealing with PC customers. Maybe therein lies the reason to have both in your organization. Notably, we have had to make many comparisons of how Excel spreadsheets from the MAC world render in the PC world and visa versa.
I believe that the current OS X is truly the cadillac of operating systems for home use. I love opening Word and Excel with their Appleworks programs, pressing F12 for a calculator and stickies, etc. With that said, the user who is not particularly saavy could be confused by the user interface if they have not taken the time to study it. Notably confusing to some of our customers it the way to install print drivers and know which printer you are printing to. The lack of a standard area to run un-installs is also a bit painful. Recently to get AOL uninstalled on a MAC we had to call them to find out which files needed to be deleted first. Not fun.
Slow learners may have trouble switching from Windows to OS X. Operating Systems nowadays sport so many features it can be easy to get lost! Also, preference can be based on intangible, subjective factors so we dare not be too pushy!
Support may be another issue. In the field, there is definitely less of a pool of technicians to draw from if you have an Apple problem. Reports from the field indicate long hours on the phone with support technicians and problems left unresolved. Some problems are truly impossible to debug by phone!
We are happy with the stability of OS X but we keep the system disk close by regardless. We also like the integration of iDisk with a number of applications allowing for easy off-site backup. From a security standpoint, as long as we can trust those Apple servers, iDisk makes for good offsite storage for the home user.
We enjoy the great adaptive junk mail filter in the version of Apple Mail. We could get excited and state that this feature alone makes it worth the switch.
On a day-to-day basis, we experience great stability and interoperability using our iMac. The Wintel platform, however, properly maintained has also not given us many problems. However, last time we tried hooking up a camcorder we found the Apple to win hands down. While the PC needed drivers installed to view the stills, the same camcorder (a JVC) was truly plug and play with the Mac (no drivers needed). Even after loading the JVC drivers to the PC, we could not get the PC to show the pics and were very frustrated. We strongly urge our customers to try both and decide for themselves. If I had not owned a MAC I would have been very frustrated as I really needed to post those pictures!
Whatever platform you decide on, Just please keep your machines on good surge protection so they are not 'fried'.