Why you should buy a Mac. (And a TiVo.)

With the holiday season fast approaching, I thought I'd share Wall Street Journal tech guru Walter Mossberg's latest column for SmartMoney.com, entitled "Tempted by the Apple?", which beautifully articulates why you (yes, you) should consider buying a Mac - "the best computer, with the best operating system with the fewest security problems, for mainstream consumers". In particular, he calls the iMac G5 "the single best home computer on the market".

"Mac OS X is far better than Microsoft's aging Windows XP and already boasts many key features Microsoft plans to include in its 2006 version. And the Mac comes with excellent free software that's generally superior to comparable Windows programs that cost extra. Out of the box, the Mac has better photo, music, video and DVD-creation software than any Windows computer I've seen. It has a better free email program and web browser than Windows, a better free word processor and much better search capabilities. About the only software a typical consumer would have to buy is the Mac edition of Microsoft Office."

Also: "The Mac OS and software can handle, without translation or conversion, all of the common types of files you use on a Windows PC." And: "There is little or no known spyware for the Mac, and there has never been a report of a successful virus for it." (Want a second opinion? Even PC Magazine gives the iMac G5 4.5 stars out of 5. UPDATE [11/18]: And Business Week calls it "the best consumer desktop around".)

FYI, Amazon offers great deals on Macs, including an awesome mail-in rebate [PDF] worth up to $200 off PowerBooks and $150 off iMacs.

Meanwhile, TiVo is offering an enticing new promotion through 11/29 - get a 40-hour TiVo and a year's service for just $16.95/month (with free shipping and a 30-day money back guarantee). So if you've been fraught with TiVo envy, here's a cheap cure. (And if you still haven't figured out what all the fuss is about, you can demo TiVo online.) Just be sure to enter my e-mail address (paul@perchance.com) when you activate it so I get TiVo Points! ;-)