People say stuff like that as if it's normal for Windows to constantly crash, or be flaky, or have unending issues. Sure, it's not perfect. Nothing in the world of technology is.

But I say they're buying crap discount hardware, experiencing issues related to that, and then "magically" when they spend five times as much on a Mac, things start working. Apple knows how to pick proper hardware - and it costs. Well, I've always built my own desktops from quality top-tier hardware and bought premium Windows laptops, and I very rarely have issues that I would attribute to the OS. My main desktop which is going on 4 years old now (when you buy good stuff you don't have to upgrade as often), has never ONCE locked up or had a BSOD, and it's powered on and running 24x7.

Of course, this is with Windows 7. I still have no interest in touching 8! :-)

And that's another benefit of HP I got - they had a model that came stock with Windows 7, plus a license for 8 that I'll probably never use.