clipped from www.macsimumnews.com

When it comes to Macs, the initial cost of purchase is higher, but the TCO (total cost of ownership) is less. TCO s a financial estimate designed to help consumers and enterprise managers assess direct and indirect costs. It’s a form of full cost accounting. When you figure in ease of use, less malware/viruses/spyware/etc. than on Windows, lower IT costs, ease of use, bundled software and more, Macs are, in the long run, a better buy.

And Macs have come down in price since that article was written. Another interesting piece, though it’s a few years old, is a 2006 report by Daniel Day Eran of Roughly Drafted in which he concluded that Windows is five times more expensive than the Mac OS. And that was before the Vista fiasco.