She'll run Office mostly. I can get the MS version for the Apple. Does Apple have a good mail program or does MS make Outlook for Apple?
The E-mail program I use on the Apple is called Entourage. I really like it.
If you buy Office 2004 for MAC, you'll get Entourage, which is in my HO, much better than outlook. A bit of a learning curve, but the cut-paste-n-store features are outstanding.
I swore up and down, that I was never going MAC, until my boss bought an extra powerbook, and palmed it off on me for a weekend. I haven't looked back. Gave up my XP and 2000 workstations, and I keep an old win98 machine around for those 1 in 100 times that I need a windows application that I can't find an alternative for on the mac.
The only thing, I still have not found an equivalent program to freecell for the MAC, that I like the looks and feel of. ie... that's mostly what the win98 computer get used for.
Macs come with Outlook Express, and you can get the full version for them, but trust me when I tell you Outlook is probably one of the loneliest programs for Macintosh.
With the Apple computer you get a program called "Mail".
I use it all the time. Unless she is handling more than 1000 emails per day it is the easiest email program you have ever seen. I have Entourage and it just gathers electronic dust on my hard drive.
When you go to the Apple store you can get the Student and Teacher version of Microsoft Office for about $125. This does not have Virtual PC, but it has all of the other office programs.
The only things I can not do with a Mac which I can do with a Windows Computer are:
1. Access avanced functions on the Investors' Business Daily site,
2. Access the Value Line site,
3. Run Microsoft Project.
I can do all of these with Virtual PC, but found it better to buy a cheap ($600) Windows laptop exclusively for these functions.
Unless your wife is a heavy-duty stock trader or a project manager for a major company she will be happier with a Mac and the MS Office suite.
My wife is a college professor. She is a heavy-duty computer user. Exclusively Windows until about 5 years ago. The she tried a Mac, and now will use nothing else. They really are better and easier.
If she takes digital photos the Mac will save hours of frustration.
The Mac version of MS Office is excellent. Apple provides an excellent email client called Mail with the system for free... integrated and with one of the most efficient spam filters available.
Microsoft Office Mac includes an excellent email client, Entourage.