Karl,
The Macintosh is still the platform of choice for most folks involved in
graphics, publishing, and image editing. The future for Apple looks brighter
than you might think, based on what is written about the company in the papers.
Apple, however, is notorious for their lack of support of the typical end user.
Apple has long held that re-sellers and user groups are the best way to support
the needs of the end user.
If you have access to the Internet there is a wealth of information available.
See the URLs below:
http://www.info.apple.com/
http://www.zdnet.com/macuser/
http://www.macworld.com/index.shtml
http://www.macintouch.com/
There are Macintosh user groups in most US, and many European, cities (Australia
too). Join one of these if you can. A list of Mac user groups can be found at:
http://www.apple.com/documents/usergroups.html
-Jim Yorke