PC. Since I write by *typing* and not by osmotically impressing my ideas through my beret into my "sleek Apple machine", I like keystrokes to be at least vaguely consistent from application to application. Hell, on a Mac, keystrokes aren't always consistent *within* an application.

Quick question: what keystrokes get you to the end or beginning of the current line on a Mac?

Mac, baby ... since the early nineties ... I still have a mac classic sitting in a closet somewhere.

Mac all the way!

PC. I find Macs to be incredibly confusing and not straightforward, while PCs tend to be very user friendly. The only thing that a Mac has going for it is that it's pretty.

I got my first Mac for Christmas and I adore it! Sometimes I take a little break from writing to rub my face against its sexy, sexy curves. For me, the most significant difference is that it's more aesthetically appealing, but aesthetics do matter. Personally, using a machine that I find sleek, light and attractive just puts me in a better, more peaceful and creative state of mind.

Then again, I'm also the kind of person who feels more peaceful and creative writing in a Moleskine as opposed to a cheap spiral notebook, so make of that what you will.

PC. 'Course, I used to work for IBM in Boca, home of the PC.

Keep Writing!

I write on a PC... because I can't yet afford a Mac.

They're great for multimedia, but the truth is PCs are pretty damn good for that these days, too.

iMac. Only because my partner is a snob and buys the most $$ thing in town. But if the buying were up to me I'd go with the pretty one. So it'd still be iMac.

PC.

You see I live in the great state of Washington, which just so happens to be the home of Microsoft and PC entrepanaur Bill Gates. Don't let Bill's scrawny geek looks fool ya. Bill Gates didn't get where he is today without imploring a little muscle to get his point across. If you live in the local Seattle, and Bill's "eyes" find out you're using a Mac he WILL find you and he will be use "forcefull negotiaions" (a Jack Baur of FOX's "24" fame term) to convince you that it's in your best interests to use a PC.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

@R.A Porter - apple key + left or right arrows

Mac Powerbook. Call me crazy, but I like a machine that doesn't freeze up or try to upsell me software every five minutes. And no, I don't smoke clove cigarettes, wear a beret or wear Ed Hardy Converse, I just like sheet that works intuitively and elegantly.

@millar prescott, you say that with the confidence of someone who actually believes that works in every text area of every likely app. Having worked with Macs, I can say that sadly, you're wrong. That works in *many* places; not all.

Try, for example, the address bar on Firefox vs. a text area on a form.

That inconsistency is why I can't suffer a Mac for anything keyboard intensive.

I picked up a Lenovo(previously IBM) Thinkpad T-61 in November. No complaints. It does exactly what I want it to do. And it looks nice.

Longhand is also an alternative whenever it feels like the screen is burning my face off. And for that, I turn to Moleskine.

PC. After all, I only need it to write and surf -- all for half the price of a MAC.

Have very reluctantly ponied up for a Mac after years and years of PC. Laptop just died, needed a new one, put off by Vista, hate paying over the odds for Mac hardware, what's a boy to do?

The deciding factor was software. For writing I've only found one piece of software that fits with my workflow, and that's Scrivener. It's brilliant, but Mac-only, and so I've been obliged to go Mac just to be able to use it.

Never mind start-of-line, end-of-line, what about delete? (As opposed to backspace.)

PC

I've only been sitting by a Mac twice in my life.

PC...cheaper and less proprietary...

Linux.

No, really. I use Ubuntu Linux on a Dell XPS. I now find it hard to feel 'creative' writing on software I'm leasing from Microsoft or Apple.

Very clunky cheap held-together-with-duct-tape Acer laptop running the very clunky cheap held-together-with-duct-tape Windows Vista.

When a project becomes stalled, I've been known to write on this thing called 'paper' with an instrument called a 'pen.' I'm considering marketing these wonderful tools one day... think of the possibilities!

PC

B/C sometimes I need to get out my writer's block aggression and Vista is a perfect scapegoat.