Well, I certainly got a lot of information from my question! Thanks everyone, I always learn from you! It seems to me that the advertising hype of the computer makers is just that, and in the long run, it's the machine one is most comfortable with. I've used MAC since it came out and have so much invested in software that switching to Windows is economically impossible. And, I find Windows very intimidating anyway (as many MAC users do). I run Virtual PC on my single processor G4 (which was near the top of the line last year, -- no longer--but it works very well, so I am not complaining--except it is very loud--the fans are a problem). Virtual PC lets me learn about Windows (and crash it a lot), and try some Windows only programs on it (admittedly, it is slow, but I expected that). One shareware program in particular was interesting. I tried it on an HP laptop running an AMD processor, and it wouldn't display properly. The menus did't show up at all. When I tried the same program on the Virtual PC, it ran just fine. Not sure why that happened. I forgot to mention among the many useful products, Adobe Premier, which is wonderful. Most of the products from Adobe are top notch, and I'd be lost without them. Cleaner 5 is also an excellent product for video compression. Premier comes with a lite version of that program, but it is almost useless compared to the adjustability of the full version. Now, to add some sparkle to the debate, what do you all think of flat panel displays compared to CRTs? I have a friend who has an IMAC G4 with the 15" flat panel. The machine is very cute and attractive, runs fast, but sometimes has trouble restarting the panel. (I've heard from others who use flat panels that they run into this problem too, on Windows and MACs). The display is certainly crisp (I've seen some very fuzzy CRTs in my time), but there is definite "ghosting" when one moves the cursor. The panel can't seem to flip the pixels as fast as a CRT can shoot an electron beam (obviously!), so the result is some degree of latency. I've read that a real graphics professional won't touch a flat panel because they can't get the color definition they can on a CRT. Even at millions of colors, apparently the flat panels haven't got the image quality (I read this on CNET- www.cnet.com). I use a 17" CRT (with 16" viewable, don't you love how the size of a thing is NOT the size of a thing in the computer world?) and don't mind the desktop space usage. So, what are your takes on this issue? Flats and CRTs? Will we see an end to CRTs and will it cost us in terms of quality?