Hi, I'm a Mac... and I'm an NPC.

I hate him too... Paul, I think you just made me die inside. (And not just a little)

Kwildar hating... I think the world is ending....

I will admit.. mac's are the gold standard for non-linear digital audio&video editing

Myth. Marketing Myth. A properly configured PC will do just as well at a fraction of the cost. The "must have" status among artists comes partially from it being marketed as such and partially from most of them needing someone else to configure the PC for them.

True, but only within the past 5 years.  Before that, the software available for the PC wasn't as good as it was for the Mac - Adobe was primarily a Mac shop, until they shifted priorities and realized they had a larger sales base if they focused on PCs.  Although the balance has been corrected, the myth lives on due to its one-time basis in fact.  (I used to support the publishing dept. for the hospital I worked in, the software they used wasn't on PC until 2005.)

Macs also have several system features, such as Pantone color matching for screen types, built into the OS that aren't native on Windows.  They CAN be done on a PC, but it's extra work (Disclaimer - I haven't gotten that deep into Windows 7 yet to see if it's native as of this version).  Again, it's possible on both, just easier on the Mac.

As for people configuring their own computers... I think that's a factor of human stupidity overall.  I know high-level system programmers that can't find the power button on their own desktops, regardless of brand. 

There's a power button?

Once upon a time I was an animation major, and we just learned to like each one for its strong points; you worked in adobe so it was all parallel, watched what formats you saved in, and got the right hardware specs for a dual OS.

Why have icing or sweetbread when you can just have the whole cake instead!  

Better yet, lets just bring back DOS, and see who can figure out how to run their programs when all you have is a black screen and a blinking dash and no mouse.  

What a twist.