It is with a certain amount of disgust that I announce after debating my new computer, that I went with Windows7-based Dell over the formerly beloved Apple, Inc. options.

I have certainly owned PCs in the past – both Gateway and Sony VAIO, so I am way past that whole tiresome Mac vs. PC debate. In fact the VAIO is still hanging on, and it is not uncommon for me to buy new PC hardware to experience the latest Windows UI (although admittedly I skipped over Vista this time).

It simply saddens me.

I’m sad that for the the same price of hardware and the upcoming Adobe Photoshop CS5 software release, I could get merely hardware from Apple and nothing more.

I’m sad that as a professional graphics designer for nearly twenty-five years, Apple has turned their backs and are more interested in selling computers at the mall. I’m saddened that the Geek (oh sorry, “Genius”) at the Apple Store would not step aside so that I could peruse the price list. He was too busy schmoozing a handyman and looking at digital photos of installed toilets, up-selling “now you can make a website of your sample bathrooms”.

We gave an iMac to my son two years ago, and I have been running a Photoshop trial on the Windows7 partition and it was not without hitches.

And don’t even get me started on the whole “Repairing Permissions” nonsense. How could I not have the right privileges to my own computer? It used to be simple.