This one trods the most familiar ground in computerdom, pitting Apple (AAPL) Macs running OS X against PCs running Microsoft (MSFT) Windows. But it comes from APC, the longest running computer magazine in Australia, and it’s unusually insightful.

I post only the intro and the topic headers here because I recommend you read it in the original, complete with well-chosen examples, clever illustrations and charming Britishisms.

Here’s how APC Web editor Dan Warne sets it up:

15 reasons Macs are still better than Windows PCs

A journalist colleague of mine recently put this question out there:

“I’m sure I’ll either get ignored or flamed for this but what’s with all the pro-Mac stuff at the moment? It seems as though everyone […] is either using or recommending Macs these days.

I’m not wanting to start a flame war here but I’m genuinely interested in why this general shift has occurred.

Do people think Vista is truly that awful that they can’t use it or even recommend a normal Windows desktop/notebook? I use it every day and I admit I don’t like it much either but I don’t think it’s that bad that I’d jump to using or recommending a Mac instead…”

I long ago stopped actively seeking out Mac vs PC discussions (partly because Macs are now PCs — so the argument is more about Mac OS X vs Windows vs Linux than a proprietary Mac architecture vs an x86 PC architecture), but I still find it confounding that after all these years, people still don’t know the basics of the upsides of Macs and OS X. Perhaps it’s because of the tiresome arguments from people like this.

So here’s my answer. Note, despite what I said above about the argument really being between operating systems these days, I’ve looked at Macs as a hardware and software combination in this article, pitted against regular PCs running Windows. (link)

Warne’s 15 reasons (topics only). For the full article, click here.

1. Reliable sleep mode
2. Extremely fast boot times
3. Apple uses good quality parts
4. Less blinking lights
5. OS X + Windows is better than just Windows
6. Easier to troubleshoot Macs
7. A culture of good quality community software
8. More useful apps out of the box
9. Neat and contained system settings
10. Apple doesn’t load the system up with crap
11. Tonnes of small reasons make Mac OS X better
12. Still no need for additional security software
13. Apple seems largely to be lameness free
14. Power of the Linux command line with Photoshop CS4
15. File sharing is much easier

Once again, for the full article, click here.

[Illustration courtesy of apcmag.com]