7033 Yes, we know, Macs are not intrinsically immune to malware attacks in a technical sense, but in practical terms they've thus far never been a top-tier concern for Mac users in practical terms. Not even close.

Low End Mac's Austin Leeds notes that:

You can wax eloquent about the Mac's superior engineering, aesthetics, or the environmentally friendly aluminum and glass design, but when it comes down to your average consumer, here's what catches them:

No viruses.
Can also run Windows.
Works with [insert glorified peripheral here].
Looks cool.
No viruses.
Good price per use.
Works perfect with iPod/iPhone/iPad.
Did I mention no viruses?

Leeds observes that most of those things apply to the OS, not the hardware, and that the no viruses thing really impresses people conditioned by the malware siege on the Windows side, noting that college students, college instructors, random people in his town, and extended family have all been astonished by his 10-year-old Pismo PowerBook for two reasons:

It gets ten hours of battery life. ("That thing gets ten hours?! No way!")

It can't catch viruses. ("Oh, that would be nice. We had to spend, like, $150 on antivirus
stuff...")

With two ten-year-old Pismo PowerBooks in daily service myself, including the one I'm typing this blog entry on right now, I can enthusiastically concur on both counts (note: you need two extended life batteries filling both battery bays, but yes, you really can exceed 10 hours runtime on internal battery power with a Pismo).

I would find the necessity of battling viral attacks, time wasted mucking about with anti-virus software, and the general obligatory vigilence on a Windows box wearisome and tedious, and not having to bother or concern myself about all that (at least so far) is one of the strongest factors keeping me loyal to the Mac platform.

For the Austin Leeds' full commentary on the topic visit here:
http://lowendmac.com/ed/leeds/10al/apple-and-amd.html

Charles W. Moore

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