apple is a very innovative company. it is a software company, a hardware company, and a consumer electronic company. apple do a very good job in all of them.

Mac OSX is a very good alternative choice other than WindowsXP.
Powerbook is a very good alternative choice other than Sony Vaio.
PowerMac is a very good alternative choice for dual CPU workstation.

asus, gigabyte, and many other taiwanese companies only can do evalution, not revalution.