Our school is networked together using a Novell Netware Architecture and this has brought about several advantages for the Macintosh platform. When the network goes down, which happens regularly, the Macintosh computers can still print to the printers but the PCs are orphaned because they must use a printer queue. Also, many of our Macintosh users have started web-sharing their hard drives whereas the Wintel platform, while a possibility, struggles for as much end user control. The students have much less of a problem with crashes and restarting than the PC platform here as well even though much more maintenance is given to the PCs. We also have many UNIX servers but they are not for the weak-kneed user.
Most people like to get onto the computer and get their job done quickly and efficiently.
Logging onto the Macintosh with a user ID is literally as simple as a click. The Museum of Art on campus has a near complete Mac environment including their accounting department who seldom call for tech support. The repair costs for the Macintosh platform are also well below the PCs in general. While Macintosh specific parts can be more pricey, that has mostly changed as Apple has standardized on industry standards. We have far fewer tech support calls for the Macintosh percentage wise and users seem to be able to manage their Macs more than their PC counterparts.