In a couple of years I plan to buy a laptop - yes early start to my research but this is the way I am most of the time. I plan to go to Japan to teach so I will need something extremely reliable.

I have never had a Mac but peopel tell me they're way better - but I'm not exactly sure "why" they're supposed to be better. They seem to go for around the same price and some of the school districts use Mac so the more I know of different computer systems the better off I am, I figure.

My concern is can I still do all the usual things - microsoft exel for instance - I have a copy of it for windows - will I need to buy a whole new one - or is there some sort of crossover. Finding people to burn me copies of such programs is tough enough for PC let alone for Mac I would think.

Thanks
Richard.