Features

It isn't only manufacturer repairs you have to worry about. Take your PC down to your local computer shop and, chances are, they could replace the hard disk or slot in extra RAM without batting an eyelid, with little in the way of labour costs. That same repair shop may well blanche at the prospect of prizing open the sealed iMac casing, however.

12 Microsoft's on your team

Microsoft may be the company everyone loves to hate, and it doesn't always play by the Queensbury Rules, but if there's going to be a domineering, cash-rich mega-corporation in the industry, you definitely want it to be on your team. The PC is, of course, Microsoft's platform of choice, and so the Windows market is the first to benefit from ground-breaking new products such as Office 2007. Mac owners will have to wait until later this year for a new version of Office, and even then it will be largely devoid of the well-received Ribbon interface that Microsoft first introduced into the PC version in January.

Similarly, PC owners with an Xbox 360 nestled under their television can turn their console into a Media Center Extender, allowing them to play music, video or photos stored on their computer through their television - all because Microsoft has its fat fingers in so many pies.

13 Black's still the new black

A veteran IT journalist, who shall remain nameless, was rather taken aback when a fellow commuter plonked down his spanking new black MacBook, before sneering at our man's slightly weathered, older white

14 The CD-Rom has an eject button

Want to take the DVD out of your Mac's disc drive before it shuts down? Go on then, press the eject button. Hang about, there's no chuffing button on the disc drive! No, it's far more sensible to put the eject button on the keyboard and rely on the operating system to spit out your disc.

And what happens on those occasions when the Mac refuses to open the disc drawer? "If you can't get it to eject, then just hold down the mouse button next time you reboot," says one of our MacUser colleagues. Brilliant.

15 No confusing version numbers

Here are the operating system requirements for Apple's iLife 06 suite: "Mac OS X v10.3.9 or v10.4.3 or later; v10.4.4 recommended." Aperture, meanwhile demands "Mac OS X v10.4.7 (or later)"; while Logic Express 7 recommends "Mac OS X v10.4.3 or later for PowerPC-based systems; Mac OS X v10.4.4 or later for Intel-based systems." And yet Apple's website proudly proclaims, "there is only one version of Mac OS X". Come again?

Even the most complicated Windows system requirements will only specify a service pack, and considering they're only released once every few years, that's hardly likely to confuse your dad when he's browsing the software shelves in PC World.

16 What the hell was that?

If you've been sitting on a train recently and heard an unholy BLAAAANG sound, the reason is simple: there was a Mac owner somewhere in the carriage. For, in Apple's infinite wisdom, it decided that a simple PC-like "beep" from the hardware to indicate the successful start of the boot process wasn't annoying enough. Instead, it substituted the most appalling metallic clanging noise you've ever heard. And you can't turn it off unless you mute the whole machine before you shut it down. Class.