Not to belabor a point, but it is mainly because of the OS.
That said, the manufacture and components in Macs are tightly (you can pick a stronger word if you want) controlled by Apple. Take off the cover and it would be hard to tell a PC from a Mac. But because there is ONLY ONE source to buy a Mac, they can and ususally do use the highest quality components. You pay a price for this. On the PC side, you have literally hundreds of brands many who build mainly to a price point. Overclocking and aftermarket add-ons/ins can severly compromise a system. End users taking advantage of the easy upgrade choices for the PC often overlook using validated or tested components (especially memory). A good independent and even the major brands offer lines that also use the best components. When comparing them, price is pretty close to even with a quality Mac.
Like I say it mainly comes down to the OS. In Microsoft's defense, they have to put in a lot of extra code to handle software and hardware that is generations old. Because of the huge marketshare for the Windows OS, some of the software is written "loosely" which further compounds issues.
What it really boils down to is software and what you want to do with the computer. Mac or PC, get a good one and be happy
Originally Posted by bmorgan
Mac OS X, is built on the Unix kernel, which is one of the oldest and most secure operating systems available. so, yes..... you can attribute fewer if any viruses to the OS. Beyond that, and aside from the intel processors, MAC hardware in my experience is much more reliable. I leave my macs running 24/7, and have never had to reboot either of them due to a lock up or blue screen. Before I owned a Mac, I did not get it when others praised their Macs. It is one of those things that once you do own one, you get it.