Haven't made the switch just yet...

...but I am seriously considering it.

First of all, I am not coming from the world of Microsoft. I switched to Ubuntu Linux in 2006 when two things happened:
*A friend got a Mac
*Two recently purchased Dells running WinXP were constantly crashing

As a musician, music enthusiast, as well as wanting to learn more about photography, video editing, etc, I am not blind to the fact that most folks of similar interest choose a Mac almost by default.

Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular has come a long way in the five years that I have been using it, but it still has a long way to go.

I am not here to try and get talked into (or out of) anything. I will be purchasing two new laptops sometime this summer and I want to learn as much as possible about the Apple way of doing things so that when the time comes, I can make an informed decision.

Hi. You're in a good place to start on that quest. I started in just the same way after a long career in IT (pc world). Now very happy to have made the switch to mac and wished I'd done it years ago.

Ubuntu and Linux has certainly come a long way, and this from someone who has been using Linux from '96 or so..

Coming from Linux you're already familiar with the kind of stability a *nix-based system gets you and that's no different with the Mac..

Now the differentiating factor with the Mac are, of course, the apps that are available for it. Probably not as many open source as you'd see in Linux but still very nice programs none the less for not that much money..

I'm not a musician, so can't speak to the applications there..but things like Lightroom are good for photography and iMovie is actually a very decent video editing software that comes free..

Regards

If you are well versed in the command line, FFMPEG does a fine job of video editing. However, iMovie does seem to be more user-friendly. Likewise, with most of the Mac audio recording software that I've looked at so far.

Development definitely moves at a slower pace in Linux. That is the difference between paid developers and volunteers.

A mac comes with plenty of preinstalled software for your interests. Garageband is perfect for messing around in with little music ideas, or you can spend a bit of money and go for more in-dept software such as Logic (used by most professional studios). Then there's iMovie for video editing, a fantastic tool that comes with every mac. Or again, you could splash out and go for Final Cut Pro, another great editing program.

Macs are definitely good tools for the arts.