Windows or Mac

[RamCharger]

I think this section from the FreeBSD FAQ sums it up:

1.4. Can FreeBSD replace my current operating system?

For most people, yes. But this question is not quite that cut-and-dried.

Most people do not actually use an operating system. They use applications. The applications are what really use the operating system. FreeBSD is designed to provide a robust and full-featured environment for applications. It supports a wide variety of web browsers, office suites, email readers, graphics programs, programming environments, network servers, and just about everything else you might want. Most of these applications can be managed through the Ports Collection.

If you need to use an application that is only available on one operating system, you simply cannot replace that operating system. Chances are there is a very similar application on FreeBSD, however. If you want a solid office or Internet server, a reliable workstation, or just the ability to do your job without interruptions, FreeBSD will almost certainly do everything you need. Many computer users across the world, including both novices and experienced UNIX administrators, use FreeBSD as their only desktop operating system.

If you are migrating to FreeBSD from some other UNIX environment, you already know most of what you need to. If your background is in graphic-driven operating systems such as Windows® and older versions of Mac OS®, expect to invest additional time learning the UNIX way of doing things. This FAQ and the FreeBSD Handbook are excellent places to start.

Basically PC and MAC are just hardware platforms. What you can do on it depends on your operating system. You can buy a "PC" platform, but run more than just Windows *cough* virus magnet *cough* on it. However, what you will be doing next on that system depends on what underlying OS you are running because only so many applications are available for a particular operating system (lets stay out of the architecture part for now).

Windows has lots and lots of applications, but, realistically, how many of them are you going to use on a business system? You are just trying to do graphics and web design right? Lets see: Netscape, GIMP, and Emacs or Vi (*NIX text editors). If you're not gaming then who cares if you are not using Windows?

Saying that it has always been Mac and Windows forgets Commodore, Amiga (yes, there was a difference!), Atari, and a few others here and there (DEC Alpha anyone?). I remember people used to (and some still do) swear by Amiga for video. For those thinking that Amiga is dead I present this link. Then there is also IRIX by SGI (which I used on my Indigo2) for virtual reality, video, and graphics design. However, as time goes on, the PC platform continues to dominate because of two reasons: price and performance.

My advice? Go with a PC platform. The parts are cheaper than pretty much anything else out there making changing out defective or obsolete components easier (and less expensive) than any other platform. Anything other than a PC platform (including Mac [since Apple still controls it to a T no matter who they try to fool]) should be considered proprietary and destined for obsolescence (lets see one design team controlling the whole core architecture [Apple, Sun, SGI, etc.]...or two companies [AMD and Intel] controlling design and development of the core components [the CPUs and general motherboard specifications] with a million other companies designing and developing practically everything else).

The advantage of a proprietary platform is that the hardware has been generally of better quality (in some case by a very wide margin) and the OS (Mac, Solaris, IRIX, AmigaOS) has been more stable due to less devices madness. However, even with that said, support contracts still were sold because no one can guarantee a 100% fail proof system (components will always wear out eventually). The trade off, of course, between a highly reliable proprietary platform and a PC has been the price. However, people seem to always forget the saying: you get what you pay for.

Sticking with the PC platform for a sec...what would you feel more comfortable betting your business on: cheap no-name components or high-endian branded components? Of course you probably could get two, three, or four of the knock off components for the price of that high-end component, but can you afford the downtime and frustration of swapping out those components? There is a million more thoughts I could add, but I see that I am getting long winded.

Best advice:
Buy a PC platform for the reasons of price/performance and parts availability.
If you're not going to run games, then look into an OS other than windows (I prefer a *BSD, but Linux is attracting more commercial software vendors).