OK ... my 2 cents: I'm a relative "newbie" on mac: this 'puter is my first after having worked with Windows machines at work for years, and I simply wanted an alternative ... 2 and a half years ago I took the plunge and bought this iMac 500 DV SE, installed a gig of RAM and never looked back. It came with OS 9; I had great fun with it (just surfing the web, email, etc.), and when OS X came out, I plunged again, and I love it! I have 9 on another partition, but as time passes, and OS X matures, I find myself visiting 9 less and less ... because of X's stability and bundled software (iPhoto, etc), I've bought a digital camera and am planning on buying a camera to make some movies ... OS X has expanded my horizons in ways that I scarcely anticipated a few years ago, and in fact, I'm buying the G4 1.42 and 20" display in 6 weeks. I am very enthusiastic about OS X. Having said that, whatever floats your boat! if you like 9, stay there, but I think that Apple is on the right course ... I've got pc friends (because of X) who are seriously considering switching ... I'm having the time of my life! Thank you, Steve Jobs!