One of the reasons often given for buying a PC over a Mac is that PC's are cheaper. That certainly looks as if its true if you look only at the initial price for the boxes.
For years I managed end-user technology for an organization of 300 people, most using PC's because a critical business application was PC only, and the rest on Macs. I was required to establish the total cost of ownership for everything we bought. By the time you added support costs into the equation the Macs were substantially cheaper.
At the same time, if all you want to do is send email and browse the Web a cheap PC will certainly do that perfectly well. And if low cost really is the most important factor a $300 netbook and a free copy of Linux might be an even better solution than a Windows box.
For years I managed end-user technology for an organization of 300 people, most using PC's because a critical business application was PC only, and the rest on Macs. I was required to establish the total cost of ownership for everything we bought. By the time you added support costs into the equation the Macs were substantially cheaper.
At the same time, if all you want to do is send email and browse the Web a cheap PC will certainly do that perfectly well. And if low cost really is the most important factor a $300 netbook and a free copy of Linux might be an even better solution than a Windows box.