I have to admit, when I follow the three rules "Update Windows, Update Drivers, Don't install illegal software." Windows 7 stability has been rock solid for me. I can't remember having a BSOD in windows since Windows 2000. What's more impressive is that I always build my own desktop PC's so my combination of hardware isn't officially tested.
I use multidesktop with windows all the time, when video editing I'm always narrating, so it's easier to shove a script on the left and the video editor on the right. It's always done me well.
Because I video edit, perform CGI work and of course make computer games, I need a certain amount of power under the hood. I've always been on a tight budget so this means PC. The hardware is cheaper, the specifications are higher. The desktop PC I built for £480 (nearly a year and a half ago) has the following specs.
AMD Quad Core 2.8Ghz
6Gb RAM
SSD 256 HDD (What a difference SSD makes!)
AMD 6670 1GB Graphics card
vs Mac Mini for about the same price
Dual Core i5 2.5Ghz
4GB RAM
Intel 4000 GPU (shared video memory)
500GB mechanical drive
In terms of sheer performance, my custom configuration built 18 months ago has it beat hands down.
If I was to price a new PC desktop, built from scratch at the same price a Quad Core Mac Mini comes in (£692, or £757 with DVD Superdrive) then I'm looking at something like this.
Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 DDR3 ATX - £66.99
AMD FX-6200 AM3+ 3.8GHz 14MB 125W - £109.99
Corsair 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL10 Vengeance Black Performance Desktop Memory Kit - £104.98
Sandisk 256GB Pulse SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive - £114.99
Asus AMD Radeon 7790 HD 1GB PCI-Express 3.0 HDMI Direct CU II OC - £110.98
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English - £69.99
Corsair 750 Watt Builder Series CX 750 Modular Power Supply - £68.98
Gigabyte GZ-G2 Gaming Case Plus with USB 3.0 Ports & 2 Front Fans - £45.99
Samsung 12x BD-ROM/DVDRW Lightscribe SATA Retail - £47.66
Total - £740.55
I feel that a configuration like this is going to last me about 3 - 4 years useful lifespan. The Mac Mini as I am concerned is already out of date in terms of performance because it lacks the kind of gaming and video power. The specs above break down into.
Hexi-core (6) 3.8Ghz processor
7790 Graphics card
16GB RAM
256GB SSD
So in terms of sheer value for money, bang for buck, Apple isn't a very good choice. If like me you've been living on a tight budget since Y2K you need to make your machine last as long as possible before the next upgrade is due. The only reason I've gone to apple is because I find myself in a position were I need to be able to develop iOS and Mac OS software. If I could do that on a PC (Hackintoshes don't count, they are unreliable, and potentially a legal minefield) then I wouldn't have purchased a Mac at all.
P.S. If you just want to word process and run a linux box then the Raspberry Pi is great
I've had my Raspberry Pi running a Web Server and Subversion server for the last six weeks. It's been doing a fantastic job of it as well. The only gripe I have with it is that flash support is absolutely terrible, so no youtube videos. I do however have netflix running on it.