I think my short answer here would be whichever Operating System you have spent the most time on. In my case this would be Windows XP at the moment as if I tried to go back to other versions of Windows there would be the learning curve of things not being where I think they are, even in the case of a Mac. When I was in university I think my answer would have been the Unix that they had which I kind of got used to with X-Windows and having a few terminals going with reading news in one window, a browser in another section, etc. or those Wyse terminals where I'd use screen and not need a mouse or fancy graphics. Those were the days....

Regards,

JB

(Who imagines in a few years his answer could change to whatever they call "Vienna" when it comes out or Vista after some more kinks get worked out)

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Home Desktop: VoodooPC Hexx. AMD Athlon FX-60, 2 GB RAM, 2 x 250 GB HD, 7900 GTX video card. Home Laptop: HP dv4000, Pentium M, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB HD, ATi 700 Radeon Mobility

I'm thinking you'd be better off running Windows since you won't find many games on the market that support a free OS like Linux, and that might take a while. Windows is fully supported by MOST games, so I'd stick to that popular Microsoft name for now.

of course you get a windows if your going to game. Nearly everything supports windows. Linux is for people who just want to surf web and youtube. Macs you can game but you have to customize some stuff. So windows is the best.

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I would have to agree with the others on here. It is pretty subjective what works for you doesn't necessarily work for me. You might try going to a local library and trying different computers, most have apple and windows based, some may even have unix based ones. You could also go to a local dealer, or big box store and try the ones there. A smaller retailer would be able to help you set up a system that meets all of your needs, ie customize it for you so that you are a satisfied customer. They are also more willing to take the time to explain how to do stuff. Why, they know you will come back to them for future needs. While it is the most expensive of the options out there you really can't beat windows vista ultimate even with the bugs.