I do graphic design in a print shop. I have to deal with Mac's on a daily basis at my work and they are simply and utterly awful. There are so many issues with them and software/hardware compatibility that it's not even funny. We have nothing but issues when printing from Mac's and their temperamental software ports.

Most people that own them are pretentious scenesters (at least where I live). A good chunk of them only buy Mac's to fit an image. A good chunk of that chunk don't know how to use them. I deal with it on a daily basis and everyone I work with cringe at Mac users.

I'd like to see where you are getting your information from......source please?   I've been using Target Disk Mode for years on literally a hundred different machines over that time (with drives and computers in all sorts of conditions and states of working order) and have not had any failures with using this mode as designed with one exception.....the harddrive in the unit being targeted is actually defective/malfunctioning,  whereby hardware failure is the source of the problem.

Uh, yeah, it's pretty well known that any computer you have physical access to can easily be made your bitch.

Besides physically locking up your machine when you aren't around, encryption is the only real defense against somebody who can get at your computer. If you're a paranoid Mac user you can turn on FileVault to protect the contents of your home folder from the installer disc-wielding scourge. Your data will be safe unless they get their hands on your password or spend a lot of time on brute force.

And I'll backup StarrGazer's account of Target Disk mode. I've only ever seen it fail on bad hardware. I'd really appreciate if you could provide some kind of source for this, James.

You seem to be missing the point.  Macs can be made your bitch with absolutely no tech knowledge or hacking involved.  That's much less secure than a PC.  If you want a PC user's password, you at least have to know how to find a good program, burn an ISO image onto a DVD, then boot to that DVD and run the software.  WIth the OS X disc, you just put it in, boot to it, and voila.

And as you just said "unless they get their hands on your password".  If they use the OS X install disc, they can change your password without even having to know your original one or any other security questions.  Then your Mac would be screwed once again (which is what I was describing earlier).

Nightsurge seems extremely paranoid about people stealing computers, and I find this weird considering I've never even heard of people doing that before. What situation do you find yourself in so often that makes it a potential threat?

The only time you'd ever really be away from your notebook is when you're at home, right? Do you live with evil people? :P

Wrong again. Can't get at that encrypted home folder without either the original password or the master FileVault password. Using the boot disc password utility will not gain you access to that data.

Wrong.......if the Open firmware password is set you can not simply use the OS X install disc to boot the machine and change the password......not without knowing the existing password first.  Now how is that less secure then a BIOS password that requires you to know the existing BIOS password before you can change it?

Ok, if you say so.  I haven't tried that, but from what you described it sounded as if you meant just the admin password and not some secondary password just for the file vault.  Anyways, I was right about all the other stuff.

I'm not worried about people "stealing computers"... oh wait... I actually am kinda worried about that too, but I mostly meant I am worried about protecting the data on the computers.

I work at a university as an LSP (local service provider) for the Math Department.  Basically I manage all IT needs for this department.  Data protection as well as actual physical hardware protection is a very big deal for a university, especially given the government funding involved which makes this somewhat of a government institution.

And unfortunately you will find evil people everywhere.   Just last year we had 3 laptops stolen by breaking into our cabinets in one of the labs (which have since seen much reinforcement to prevent this).

come on guys.. didnt the mac platform shift to the PC platform when mac jumped into bed with intel with core duo and then again with wintel with bootcamp.

Overall M$ is still smarter here.. PC's can do more stuff than mac. Its nice that macs have a more stable/virus free OS, but compared to windows they have horridly expensive hardware(why the hell use proprietary RAM), limited 3rd party support. In fact I choose ubuntu over OSX anyday..

why dont mac ads show macs running web servers, or playing cool 1080p higher games? well coz very very few macs do that..

Im not a huge vista supporter either, even though it runs on my rig fine, but paying 2-3 even 4x for the same shit is ridiculous.