robbo

as a self-described mac-ophile, I'll admit some bias. But after being forced to use a Dell, IBM, and Toshiba at the office, I can't tell you how much I appreciate my Mac at home. Starts up fast, runs smooth and stable, and most importantly acts just the way you think it should. Rarely do you have to figure out a workaround to get it to do what you want. Unless you're trying to do something pretty obscure. And definitely get the Apple Care plan - over three years time with a laptop, it'll pay for itself. And you'll be blown away by the customer support from Apple.

Also, if you're ready to drop some bucks on some good stuff, you need to go to M2M on Montrose (just north of Westheimer) and Cotton Club (it's moved over to San Felipe near the tracks). Sometimes Harold's in the Heights has some good stuff - but not too much casual wear.

In Houston, you gotta come into town and check out lower Westheimer. A lot of the good stores are closing in favor of upscale boutiques but there's still a lot of good stuff between Dunlavy and Montrose (Liquid, Buffalo Exchange, Taxi Taxi, to name a few). In case you haven't been down there yet, you'll probably like it - feels more like a real city as opposed to the stinkin' concrete suburb that exists over all of the rest of Houston (and the surrounding 25-mile radius area).