Neither company is particularly "Catholic friendly."  A Dell is going to be cheaper.  Apples are generally more secure (from viruses and other malware) than anything running a Microsoft operating system.  All Microsoft Office products (including Word) are available on Apples.  All laptops have a CD/DVD drive built in.  Tablets generally do not.

It really depends on what you want to use it for, and what you are comfortable with.  If you have used Microsoft operating systems in the past (i.e., Windows) using an Apple computer is going to be very different.

Apple is my choice and I hope you do the same.

Apple is very good for people that work in media, e.g. editing or music or film production, because of the very capable multimedia software you get on it with the computer (which in my experience rivals $1000+ Windows-native programs).

There's less malware than Windows - methinks the difference in coding that always existed between PC and Mac until late last decade (when they switched to the same processors Windows used) probably fostered that.

If you go Dell, I might actually wait a couple of months until Windows 10 is released because they may offer to install it on your system when you get your machine. (Note: There is no Windows 9) Windows 8 is, from my experience, probably excellent if you have a touchscreen monitor/tablet. It's very built for that. Windows 10, IIRC, is returning to the Start menu previous iterations really liked.

EDIT: Yes, there is Office (which includes Word) for Mac. Since Apple switched to the same processors as Windows as stated before, they can do this now. I use Malwarebytes and it recently got me out of a rut. It's very good but if you want freeware, go AVG.

Why have you narrowed it to Dell in particular for a non-Mac? There are dozens of manufacturers of Windows laptops. I prefer Lenovo myself, but I have no idea what their politics are. They being Chinese, they are likely quite politically incorrect. Don't let the China thing bother you, all computer components are sourced from Asia anyway, there's no way around that.

Apple is really gαy friendly. They voluntarily offered same sex benefits to employees long before law required and their new CEO is openly gαy.


Then again, Microsoft is similarly gαy friendly to employees. It's the politically correct thing to do nowadays, any big corp will do this.

My Mac Pro has no CD/DVD drive, and .most machines will not have a CD/DVD drive nowadays.

More important is the gαy and other moral issues is the fact that Apples are not friendly to Catholics for another reason.

Catholics generally aren't well-to-do.

Apple is, or at least considers itself, the "cadillac" of PCs. They certainly deserve this title in the tablet/phone sphere. Their devices are second-to-none as far as quality.

However, they are expensive. So getting an Apple is the quintessential "keeping up with the Jonses" or shouting to the world, "I have arrived." Is that Catholic?

Long story short: Apple is very controlling and greedy.

Apple charges developers $99/year to develop for iOS.
Google charges developers a $25 token ONE-TIME fee (to discourage malware providers to sign up for multiple accounts once they are banned) to develop for Android.

See what I mean?

If you have kids I'd go with Android/PC just on the off chance you have a son who wants to get into software development. It's not like there are thousands of economically viable options for Catholic careers these days.

It's also easier to get free software for a PC or Android device. Linux is an excellent choice, in my experience. I've used it for 4 years and counting...

Which platform is more likely to offer no-strings-attached free apps? The one that costs developers $99/year, or the one that cost developers a $25 one time fee?