OK so why?

I am looking to buy my first Macbook. I am a bit worried about the price. Seems I can get a faster PC for the same money, but I am sick of my crashing freezing and error filled pc laptop. Any advice before I spend my tax return on a MAC?

My brother in law talked me into getting a Mac laptop a little over a year ago after I had problems withmy PC and I am so happy with it not only for the reasons you give but also because it updates itself more easily, starts up faster, and is just all around easier to use. When I use a PC now, it just seems clunky and irritating. Apple was able to transfer most of the data from my programs to the Mac, leaving me with very little manual updating of info. And, I have to say, I never thought of myself as a person who craves what's cool, but the Macbook is just plain cool.

Having said that, it takes a little time to get used to what's different about it (but it would also take you a little while to get used to Vista or the newest version of Windows if you bought a PC), and I would recommend getting a book like Switching to the Mac by David Pogue which helped me not only understand the differences and find out about some of the cool features of a Mac but also change some things that annoyed me so they are more PC-like (e.g., moving the down arrow for the scroll bar to t the top of the screen and the up arrow at the bottom of the screen as they are on the PC). I also, but this may be more advanced than what you want to do, and again I needed my brother-in-law's help, installed a program called VMWare that allows me to have a "virtual PC" on my Mac so I can run a couple of programs that are available for Windows but not for Mac.

Yes you can get a "faster" PC for a much better price, but PC programs allocate memory so horribly that a Mac with 2MB will run the same as a PC with 4MB (my mother and I both just got laptops two weeks ago; mine the 13in 4MB Mac with 265GB, hers a 17in Dell with 2MB and 100GB). I've have spent a substantial time on both (I'm "tech support" for my house) and I can easily say I think I got the better deal although I spent 3 hundred more. Not only that, but a Mac is much "heartier" they live longer, better lives.
Yes it was very confusing the first week or so trying to find the Mac-PC conversions, but I don't regret it for a minute. Not only that, but find a friend with a Mac; in my experience, they are all too willing to teach you all the cool things you can do and will expound (at length) on the virtues on a Mac over a PC.
As for VMware, you could do that, or you could use Bootcamp. Bootcamp allows you to create a partition (non-invasive and very safe, no reformatting needed...unlike a PC) to run either XP w/ service pack 2 or Vista on it (free with iLife). I do highly recommend getting iWorks as well.

Thanks for all the wonderfull advice.Rebeccanyc, I bought Switching to the Mac and benuahanasia thanks for the advice. I have decided to get a Mac but I have to save the money since it is a bit more expensive. My hubby and I will be debt free in 2 years, so credit is out of the quesiton.
I figure a couple of months of waiting will be worth it.
But tell me what is iWorks??

Your local Apple store also should have free classes for new Mac users to get you in the swing. I switched from a PC to an iMac 3 years ago and am so glad I did.

iWork is the apple office package. It is quite cheap, and really nice to work with, I think it is the nicest office package I have ever used. But it is not in the league of MS Office, so if that is what you need, then iWorks is not a replacement. I personally use neoOffice, the openoffice variant for OSX, my needs are limited, so for me it is enough. You can download a demo of iWorks from Apple: http://www.apple.com/iwork/

We don't have a local Apple store :( bummer. I have to get mine from the Bestbuy shelf or order it. I use MS Office on my work desktop so I will need to transfer Excel and Word docs between computers.

Basic excel and word docs work on a mac both with neooffice, openoffice or iWorks. Anything complicated needs MSoffice for mac.

Yeo that is all I do basic spreadsheets. (profit + and loss -) statements and in Word letters, essays and such.