Is there a PC laptop that I will enjoy using as much as my Mac?

I occasionally get some shield thing popping up telling me something is not secure. I don't know b/c they make me so damn mad I don't read them and just close them. Stick with macs. Your instincts and preferences don't mesh well with the windows universe. The shield thing popping up telling you something is not secure is windows' s way of dealing with permissions and superusers, and it's telling you that either you or some software wants to monkey with the system. Just telling it to go away without even looking at it is a very bad instinct for the windows world. I'm not telling you you're wrong or bad, but your instincts are a poor fit for the windows world. Also, today I went to crop a photo on Windows 7 and discovered that I had to download some Window Live Essential sh*^. Why the h3ll didn't they just install it? I think most people in the windows world would consider that it wasn't downloaded and installed until it was needed as a plus, not a negative. Again, a poor match for the windows world. There is no set of hardware that's going to deal with these, to you, issues.

I don't know about 'feels good to use', since that's pretty subjective, but the Lenovo Thinkpad has been fairly reliable and lets you extend the warranty to four years (depot or onsite). The downside is that it is more expensive than Gateways or Dells. (Also Lenovo is having a sale that ends tomorrow).

Also, I like the way Apple lets me choose components. If I want this processor or that software I can custom order it. WTF? I'm not sure if you are trolling or not, but you should just stick to an Apple laptop and dual boot Windows 7.

I better way to explain my frustration w/ PCs is that I seem to spend more time maintaining them than I do the family Macs.

A lot of the things you perceive as problems with Windows are again problems with the shitty manufacturers. They are loading up more and more bloatware when they ship machines, and I do spend the first few hours uninstalling crap. (For the record, Mac OS never ever stops asking me to install new version of "Growl" and iTunes, neither of which i wanted in the first place. There are annoyances about both OS's.) The bottom line for me is that I need each OS sometimes, and I can run Windows on a Mac, but I can't (legally) run Mac OS on a PC. So I would get a Mac if I had the money.

If you configure a The high-end PC laptops that have better build quality and design are pretty expensive. http://www.dell.com/us/p/adamo-13/pd, http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/series_can.do?storeName=computer_store&landing=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=ENVY If you really configure a PC with the exact same specs as a MacBook Pro, the price is going to be pretty close. You have to look hard though, because there aren't too many PC laptops with the same specs as a MacBook Pro. Same CPU/RAM/HD maybe, but there are a lot of other factors like the video card, screen resolution, keyboard, ports, etc. I agree with the other folks, sounds like your annoyances with Windows are software/OS issues, so it won't matter how nice of a PC laptop you buy.

... at my last job it was always a PC Genuine Advantage thing popping up asking me to do something. That would be Microsoft trying to tell you that your last employer was pirating the operating system. You won't have this problem if you buy from a reputable reseller.

Warranty quality usually gets better if you get a business class machine. Some companies, like Lenovo or Dell, also have online outlet stores where you can get machines in varying states up to "the guy who ordered this cancelled before we could ship it out" at substantial discounts. Also there is a program called http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/ that's purported to be very good at doing what the name says. All that said, Macs and PCs have different mindsets, and they don't completely overlap.

"Feels good to use" is 100% subjective. Personally, I love my Mac, and I dislike using Windows. But that's a software issue, not hardware. For tech support, I haven't met any that are as good as Apple, but I also haven't actually called any major PC company's support line in more than 5 years, so my experience well out of date. Customization is not a problem - I'm amazed you consider that a Mac advantage; every PC company is going to match or exceed Apple's customization options on any model. And absolutely all of them will let you up the warranty for three years. If you can give us some better guidance about what makes you HATE PCs, we can probably give you better guidance, but there's a danger here of things being too subjective. For example, I love Macs and have a particular distaste for Sony laptops, which seem to be your least-disliked PCs.