Honestly, Macs are best if you need to do a lot of editing because it has great apps – for editing photos, music, videos, but when it comes to going on the internet the Mac just isn’t for it.
It’s hard to navigate, even with Mozilla, I think it’s a bitch that you can’t right click. It’ll run nice with probably a gig or so, a good thing is that it’ll run fast with one gig, while Vista won’t give you the time of day with two.
It depends what you mean by using it for music and pictures, if you’re LISTENING to music, the Mac isn’t it, but if you’re editing music, the Mac has a great program called garage band. As for pictures, you can get Adobe Photoshop on Windows, which completly owns anything else.
References :

I don’t like macs, notebooks with windows are cheaper and you can do more with them. Macs are really good for video editing though
References :

i hate admiting it, im a windows guy, but yes they are more powerful if you compare the specs with say an hp, the mac will probley be stronger.but i think like every one else said they are more for editing pictures and maybe movies
but the downside is the operating system. in my opinion the opereating system on a mac is not as user friendly as windows on windows you can actually right click and windows is just easier to navigate and do stuff with. like answer 1 said depends on what you wanna do with the music and pictures.
References :

For what you want, a Mac would be better. I love my Macbook. You can get Microsoft Word, Excel, etc. on a Mac if you needed to do alot of paper writing. Since you aren’t, you probably wouldn’t want to add them. I don’t have Word on my laptop.
References :

The difference between a PC and a Mac is the operating system. Windows is lazy and decides not to fill in the open doors in their OS so hackers can enter your computer. Mac, on the other hand, has a OS that is pretty much impossible to hack. No Viruses ever, but is that really worth a whole bunch more money for a worse computer. My opinion says get a Windows computer. They are better as long as you don’t download random things from the internet and have a good anti-virus software. I prefer Nod-32. Good Luck!
Matt

PS Best answer appreciated
References :

The new macs have the ability to right click, im running a G3 with OS X tiger 10.4.10. I dont have a problem with the web browser either. I use mozilla firefox and it almost the same as the windows version. You right click and you get the same menu as you do in Windows. I would recommend one. They are safer then windows will ever dream of being. Even safer the dare i say it Vista. But as for the rest of the stuff you want to do, You will have better luck with a mac as they are very good with that kind of stuff
References :

I own a mac notebook (2ghz, core 2 duo w/ 80 gb hard drive) almost a yr., my only experience has been with windows before buying mac, it’s not a difficult transition to make. It works fine on the internet, I’ve been able to gain online access at no cost since having the notebk. because of the wifi card inside, but internet cards won’t work since there’s no port but u can check w/ apple to see if they can install one & ask for cost, I know verizon claims they’ll be coming out w/ a usb type of internet card but haven’t checked it out lately; safari is as good a browser as netscape. One thing I like about having a mac is that pictures and video are excellent and music sounds good on the mac, I’ve dnlded music and there was no problem, except u may want a set of speakers because the built in spkrs are not very loud (for instance can’t hear my music if i’m in my kit. doing dishes); u should go to the apple website or go to an apple store in your city their staff is very helpful and u can try out one of the notebooks, ask quests b4 u purchase; what I love the most is Itunes and streaming music, I get to listen to stations that don’t get reached on home stereo, haven’t tried watching dvds but the picture on the notebk. is excellent. Plus mac geniuses will give u assistance @ any apple loc., word processing software is a separate fee (they’ll sell you the student version of Microsoft word $149);
One important thing that sets macs apart from windows based systems is that macs are virus free and it’s not nec. to purch. antivirus prog., don’t have one on mine & haven’t had any problems. If windows is really important to you then wait until next yr. to buy your mac because apple is going to re-lease O/S called Leopard that will enable windows programs to be run on mac, go to the apple site & check it out, the program is called bootcamp (currently sold by apple but not supported by their technicians, guessing once they make bootcamp avail w/ new OS then they can help with installing windows progs. like wordperfect etc.)

If u buy a macbk. or computer, don’t extend the applecare protection program after 90 days of ownership–it’s only for phone tech support–just go to the store in your area if there are any questions or problems; they also give free beginners classes at their stores.

I’m still learning a lot of different things but it’s a good computer I won’t ever go back to windows; I’m a writer so other than my work I use it for the internet, music and pictures also.
References :

There’s two basic types of MacBooks, the entry level MacBook and the MacBook Pro. The Pro comes in 2 larger screen sizes and weighs a bit more. I’ve had a MacBook for over a year, no problems with anything.
All the MacBooks come with iLife 08 which is iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDvd, iCal, Photo Booth, Garage Band, Safari and more. You have everything you need to work with music, photos or movies. The word processor is called Text Edit, it’s not enough. You can get Neo Office or Open Office for free, buy a version of Office, or get iWorks 08. iWorks will read and save in Word, Power Point, or Excel formats which a PC can read. It’s also hundreds less. The browser, Safari works fine on most websites, it’s way faster than IE and blocks pop ups. If you reach a Windows specific website, you can use Firefox which can "trick" a website into believing its IE. The main advantage, 115,000 Windows viruses and zero MacOS X viruses. So save money on an anti-virus application which would slow down your computer.
References :