MAC mini G4 vs Intel/AMD based system

[digittalutah4400]

I and a friend of mine are looking for laptops. I know what I need, but am having a hard time giving him a recommendation. He is NOT computer literate. Some of the selling points he's been given in favor of a MAC is that they are less prone to virus n spyware. He doesn't have the resources to take care of such should it take place.

Currently he's looking at the 14" mini w/ a G4. our school is offering it new for 999. Quite a deal since education price is 1199, 100 off it's retail price. For a couple hundred less he can purchase an Acer for example have a larger screen, probably more memory, and a 'faster' processor.

What are your opinions. I think MACs are great and would totally go for a Mac DUO Pro, but 2K$..yikes.

He doesn't need a lot of power, he'll be using it for email, word processing, browsing the internet.

Suggestions? Comments? ETC...

THANK YOU ALL!

Zach in Utah.

 

[theboomboomcars]

If your friend wants to go as cheap as possible and not worry about viruses and spyware and is afraid to look at linux, althogh pclinuxOS is pretty user firendly, you don't have to use the consol for much, and comes with most media codecs, then a windows computer fully patched and using firefox 1.5.2, with script blocker installed and not opening any e-mail from unknown persons would be fairly resistant to malware.
The Mac would be slower, but if its for typing papers, taking notes, etc. and not for games it'll be okay. I am assuming you're looking at the iBook, the mini is a small desktop. They also have great battery life, in case you don't have access to a plug.

Aren't the mountains beautiful

 

[lunyone]

I think that a AMD based system is generally cheaper that the Intel based one. The Mac's are generally more user friendly, but if the friend has used a Windows based system, than I would recommend sticking with a Windows system.
If price is a major factor, the Acer would be the better deal and it would also have more configurations possible for less dough too. I'm not a big Mac fan, but some people really love them. They aren't necessarily more virus free, but the hackers tend to not touch Mac's as much as Windows systems, so they tend to be more robust in some ways.
I don't know if this helps, but this is my quick 2 bits