getting a mac

[soundtest]

This is just pure speculation based on nothing, but perhaps your horrible experiences with Macs had more to do with your school's network admin being an audiophile who also wore a sysadmin hat but really didn't know how to properly maintain a network? Because I've never had such issues. Don't get me wrong though, Windows XP is a great OS - most of the complaining about XP is just Microsoft bashing by zealots and trolls like AChimp with his knee-jerk Mac bashing. The only time I have to reboot XP is when I do Windows Updates, which while stupid, is probably less than I've had to reboot Linux (I'm talking desktops, obviously).

Anyway, your point about why Macs are so good for audio was the main reason I was trying to get at but couldn't because I took too many drugs in the 90s: the apps (that I prefer at least) were originally made for the Mac platform and the PC versions are just ports. Preferring Cubase on PC would be like preferring the NES port of Double Dragon to the arcade version.