A couple of years ago, fed up with Microsoft Windows, our whole family switched to Macs. Since then we've often giggled delightedly at the commercials portraying a PC as a hapless fat guy in a suit. A Mac, after all, is "the computer for the rest of us," as Apple's ads used to say.

We own five Macs, along with iPods and other Apple paraphernalia. But recently, when we needed a new computer, we ended up buying a PC running Microsoft Vista. The reason is simple: Macs nowadays are computers for the rich.

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