Ok, assuming you can eek 6 yrs out of a PC like I am projecting I will be able to with the iMac, that is $200-$240 in security cost added to the price of that "cheap" PC. Add in another $75 every other year - a trip to the PC doctor to clean the crud out to eliminate crawl, and that is another $225 over 6 yrs. WOW, that is getting right up there close to the price of an iMac in my personal example that I provided. But, since there is a malware package dragging constantly on the system, it requires more RAM - so toss a couple of upgrades in the mix as new OS's are released... well, anyone can see where this is leading. ;)

When one really starts figuring in the cost to keep a PC running in top form, there is really no difference in cost between them and Macs. A lot less headaches involved and you get some premium software packages too as opposed to PC's loaded with all kinds of trial software packages that just end up eating a lot of hard drive space. This is assuming a run-of-the-mill computer owner, of course - the greatest majority of users - that lack the skills to properly manage PC's.