Advice. What brand desktop?

Mac doesn't lock you in anymore. Now that everything is done within the browser, it really doesn't matter. Windows is my bread and butter, which is why I sold my last Mac. If you want the best of both worlds, get a mainstream PC, and install any freely available Linux distro. Every iteration of Mac OS10 is merely their GUI on top of BSD Unix. Nothing special, really. Even the hardware is the same, with modified ROM. Kind of like choosing a Cadillac CTS over a Saturn Aura. Much nicer, but very much the same under the hood. If my work didn't supply me with computers, I'd likely go Macinthosh again myself. But in the end, they all do the same thing.