As you might have read, I’m on a quest for either a MacBook or a PC. The comments in the latest post clearly shows that the battle between Apple and Microsoft – or OS X and Windows – is very easy to spot.

Which one offers the most value? Since both the MacBooks (Pro) or generic PC have the same hardware specifications, it all comes down to the operating system.

The noble art of OS-bashing goes on…

After reading many blogs about people who has switched from Windows to Mac (so called switchers), I see a pattern, that most switchers follow.

The blogger is very often a very loyal Windows “follower”. To the surprise of the blogger, he/she learns from friends and relatives, that they actually love this OS X-stuff.

Fundamental differences

Ok then now the blogger has bought a Mac and he describes the differences between the two operating systems. Somebody has moved the “Close-button” from right to left. Then they realise that a program isn’t just shut down in OS X.

After a couple of weeks most switchers are getting the hang of it and they seem to be rather fascinated about the new OS.

A sense of joy, you only get from a few brands, seems to characterize a lot of Mac people.

Of course, everything isn’t a dance on roses. There are also stories about the total opposite experience, but not many.

It’s like many Mac owners, new and old, have a new look on life and they almost feel sorry for PC users. They haven’t seen the light.

From a PC owners point of view, this state of mind is often seen as arrogant and fanatic. Some Mac owners are used to the accusation of being a part of a cult. If a happy owner is a cultist, then perhaps that’s true.

THE Brand

The joy of owning a Mac is very visible at the 2008 edition of Brandchannel’s annual brandjunkie survey, where almost 2,000 marketing people are asked about different brands. The survey is not about ranking the brands, but about values like, “who would you site next to at a dinner party?”

The result is a certain victory for Apple with six top positions and one second. Microsoft got two top placements and one second.

14.6% of the questioned people would rather sit next to Apple at the dinner party, while 4.1% would prefer Virgin. It seems that people identify the companies with the figureheads and prefer Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Another interesting question is:”If a brand was sent 100 years back in time, how would they influence history?”. Again Apple wins by 15.5%, while Microsoft come in second with 10.4%. I’m not sure that I agree with that.

They would have a lot to say about world events, business and what is likely to happen in the future. They could also be quite good fun and have a different view of the world. A good combination of work and non-work conversation.

The first victory to Microsoft could be a sour apple (pun intended). 6% would rather discuss matters with Microsoft. Apple come in second with 4%. I wonder what they would discuss with Microsoft.

Very Inspiring

Apparently Apple inspires people. 22% of the voters say that Apple is the most inspirational brand. Nike comes in second with 6%.

Microsoft isn’t among the top 10 brands.

So has this small analysis taken me closer to a decision? Should I be a part of the Cupertino cult and be another victim in a cynic strategy?

As many of my twitter followers probably are aware of I’m currently working on getting my hands on a MacBook Pro or just a MacBook. I just can’t make up my mind.

I’ve been a happy Windows-user for many years. Way back when you typed Windows in DOS to start Windows 3.11 for Workgroups.

But I haven’t really gotten over the disappointment of Windows Vista. A year ago I “leased” big HP Notebook with 17″ screen and Windows Vista Home Premium, but it was so dang slow.

When I started my new job a few months ago I had to return the HP Notebook to my previous employee. (It’s tax/employee benefit-thing). I’ve been without a laptop since April 1st. I have a company one, but I’m not using that one for private stuff.

Instead of buying a new Dell XPS something, I decided that I wanted a MacBook Pro. A quick trip to Apple.com/store quickly gave me a price indication – $2,499 for a MacBook Pro. Ok, I can live with that.

How much does it cost in Denmark then? Dkr. 17,299 or $3,460! I can buy a return-trip to New York, buy a MacBook Pro and still save money compared to the Danish price.

Of course, if I get busted in customs, the saving is gone, but I can fly out of Hamburg (Germany) and avoid customs that way.

Why would I want a MacBook? As I mentioned Windows Vista has been quite the disappointment, but another my interview series “Show Me Your Desktop” has had a huge influence on the decision too.

It’s a part of my world domination problogger plan too.

So where am I going with this? Well initially this was meant as an intro to my Apple Mac research post, but the intro has become so long, that I’ll write that in a second post. Therefore this is called “My Quest For The Apple Part 1″.

In Part Deux I’ll write about how strong a brand Apple really is and why people become “switchers”.

As some of you know (you will if you follow me on twitter), I’ve got a new job. This is my first week as team manager at Norriq.. I’m managing a team of consultants with expertise in Windows 2003, Symantec and Citrix products, Microsoft Exchange, firewall and various other infrastructure solutions.

Unfortunately I had to return my laptop to my former employer, so now I have to use my stationary PC, which is located in my office – away from the living room, wife, son, tv and so forth.

Hopefully I’ll get my hands on a MacBook Pro (somehow). I really want to try out one of those and see if they really are better than PCs.

The new job also means that I’ll be really tired when I get home, so I could really need a hand keeping me readers happy with quality posts.

So if you have something on your heart or would like to reach a larger audience, please send your guest post suggestion to me dbp (at) thebetanews.com.

Everybody is welcome as long as it’s within this blog’s topics.

In my quest to make a living of blogging I’ve now turned my attention to my equipment a.k.a my gadgets.

If you didn’t already know that, well I’m working on it. Hopefully in a couple of years I can quit my day job and make a living out of blogging. I think I would be the first Dane to do that.

I’ve compiled a list of gadgets, equipment, skills and programs that I need in order to match the stereotypical blogger.From my interview series I’ve learned that most bloggers have

1. Use a Mac, usually a MacBook Pro, iMac or MacBook Air
2. Keen interest in photography, usually a Canon Digital Rebel XTi or Nikon D40 or similar. Darren Rowse, Matt Mullenweg or Lisa Bettany. They all take great pictures and have a lot of followers on flickr
3. Adobe Photoshop skills. The photographs must be edited in someway. Also great for making graphics for your blog posts
4. Attend a convention. I always envy the bloggers that attend a blogger convention. SXSW is just one of the conventions I would love to participate in. There is so much going on there
5. Speak at a convention.Jennifer Laycock, Guy Kawasaki, Lorelle VanFossen and Andy Beal travel the roads and sky thin speaking at conventions.
6. Have a cool nickname. Robert Scoble is the Scobleizer and Jeremy Schoemaker is Shoemoney. Just to mention a few. I’m sure there are plenty of others out there too
7. Vlog, podcast, lifecast or stream either your life or a daily/weekly show. Justin Kan from justin.tv, Sarah Meyers from Pop17.com, Justine Ezarik from iJustine and Chris Pirillo from LockerGnome all have a show or lifecast (sometimes both). Use services such as Revver, Qik, Ustream, Mogulus or YouTube
8. Say smart, useful and thoughtful things on twitter or pownce
9. Be a part of a Web 2.0 startup

So what kind of stereotypical blogger thing am I doing?

1. I’ve been a pc-guy for many years, but I’ve decided that my next laptop will be a MacBook. (If you have any recommendations then please let me know)
2. I just bought my own Nikon D40. It’s a great camera and a huge upgrade from my old Olympus point and click. The only followers on flickr I have are my parents. I guess the average The Beta News visitor isn’t really interested in pictures of my son with food all his face or our vacation pictures. Who would have guessed! (I do look good in shorts though).
3. Did you notice the graphical improvement after I switched theme. I’m slowly learning to use Photoshop. I just love it, when I find a new feature and figure out how to use it.
4. Attend a convention. Man, I would love to go to a blogger convention. All a part of my big “become a problogger and move to the States”-plan.
5. Being the first Danish problogger that moved to the States. If that doesn’t earn me a spot as a convention speaker. Then what does?
6. Cool nickname. In real life my nickname is Don, but that doesn’t really catch on. I’ve tried with “dennisbp”. Right now I’m trying with my full name: Dennis Bjørn Petersen. Let’s see how many remembers it.
7. I’m experimenting with Qik.com. What a great service. I can stream directly from my cell phone. Besides that I’m trying Camtasia Studio out too. A few of my blog posts will now be recorded using Camtasia Studio. The first one was the prize draw as a part of The Beta News Contest.
8. I try to say smart things on twitter. I’m not as clever as Maki (DoshDosh). He has some really insightful and philosophical tweets.
9. I have no programming skills whatsoever. I do have a couple of great ideas. I just need someone to develop it for me.

Now I’ve revealed my most intimate and secret dreams for you. Which of these points do you follow? Or perhaps you are going your own way and starting your very own trend? What made these people so famous? They were usually first movers or early adopters, some might even call them visionary (not me of course).

UPDATE: I don’t usually ask for diggs, sphinns or stumbles, but as an experiment perhaps you would consider digging or sphinn this?

If you missed last week’s interview with the lovely (as David Letterman would say) Rebecca Bollwitt you can still read it. This week I’m very proud to ask Guy Kawasaki to Show Me Your Desktop.

Guy Kawasaki saved Apple, (according to some he resurrected Apple twice), he is managing director and founder of Garage Technology Venture, one of the founders behind Truemors.com and launched Alltop.com last week.

Guy’s latest site Alltop.com is inspired by popurls.com, except Alltop has divided the news into topics. Alltop grabs the feeds from the top sites within each topic. The topics range from Auto and Celebrities to Macintosh and Sports. It basically gives you the latest headlines from 50+ websites within each topic. I discovered a few gaming sites I didn’t know, not to mention the very valuable Green topic. Remember you have to reduce your CO2 emission.

Now during the interview you will see, why Guy resurrected Apple and see an interviewer who never could do that. I’ll have to reword my future interviews for season 3.

What is your background picture?

I did the Leopard update, and this is what was left.

Why did you chose that picture?

I never bothered to change it after the upgrade. I should be getting a MacBook Air shortly and maybe I’ll make an effort to have a cool desktop.

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

I only have one computer. The application that I use most is Entourage because I am a slave to email.

Since I spoke to Guy, he has converted to Mac Air and uses two computers regularly. The Mac Air and iMac.
Internet Explorer or Firefox?

Your question shows a fundamental ignorance of Macintosh. I use Safari. Sometimes I use Firefox because there are some interesting plug-ins and add-ons, but I always go back to Safari.

What is your favourite program?

Entourage.
Which program is the worst?

Entourage—though I’m still waiting for Office 2008 to arrive (1/26/08). The person who designed Entourage must get about twenty emails a day from people whose addresses he/she has memorized; only has 500 contacts in the address book; and never needs to find an old message. None of this is true for me.
Do you have any tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your computer or blog?

Using MarsEdit and Ecto sure helps me blog. I like Skitch for taking screenshots and then commenting on them when I’m communicating with developers and companies about user-interface issues.
Mac or Pc and why?

At least you’re consistent. Mac because it’s in my DNA and because I can use any computer that I want to.

Click for a bigger image

As you can see I really stepped in it here. One thing is sure, I’ll never forget about Macintosh again. The interview has inspired me to start a new blog. I’ve been a PC user for nearly 20 years and never given Macs much thought (sorry Guy). I’ve supported a Mac-user once and it was a nightmare.

From now on all the money I earn from my blog will go into the “Buy a Mac”-pool. I’ll pack my PCs (laptop and stationary) down and just use a Mac Notebook, Mac Air or whatever they are called for an entire year and blog about it. From day 1 where I open the box and write my first blog post to day 365 where I’ll evaluate my experience. I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that the Mac will surprise me.

Sorry for the rambling, but the thought just hit me. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions Guy! I’m honoured to have such great and inspirational people in my interview series.