Interested in Mac..

I'm an absolute newbie when it comes to Mac. I have always used Windows. More or less I'm becoming bored and wanted to play around with other OS's. Bare with me for I have a few idiot questions.
1. Can I install Mac on my computer that currently has Xp Home. Do I delete the partition and create one with Mac?
2. Is there any special hadware I need to have. (special apple hardware?)
3. How is the stability of Mac. I'm interested in Tiger.
4. Is it worth it?

Thanks for the help and pointers!!

1. Can I install Mac on my computer that currently has Xp Home. Do I delete the partition and create one with Mac?

Not yet. Apple has announced Intel support some time soon and there
happens to be a bootleg(read illegal) copy out there.

2. Is there any special hadware I need to have. (special apple hardware?)

Pragmatically, yes. There's the Mac Mini for $499 and you provide
mouse, montor & keyboard. Networking and sound is already included.

3. How is the stability of Mac. I'm interested in Tiger. (10.4.*)

10.3.9 is VERY stable! Also far less prone to trojans and viruses for several reason
(I'll not debate here) Tiger is still in its infancy and has 2-3 major updates already. VPN/Cisco features are shaky

4. Is it worth it?

Very subjective issue. With years of Windows experience, it is likely that
you will see OS X as trivial, unless you dive into the FreeBSD (read Unix)
underpinnings.

I use Windows, Mac, and Linux daily and love them all. I couldn't live without a windows machine though - can't say the same for the other two. As for your other questions seems joe took care of those already. I haven't had any issues with 10.4.2 yet and since the release of OS X I've refused to use anything older.

I use Windows, Mac, and Linux daily and love them all. I couldn't live without a windows machine though - - -
I avoided bringing a computer into the house for Y E A R S, knowing that
it would be the begining of a "camel's nose in the tent". When the wife wanted
to start desktop publishing in '84, our first machine was a Mac IIci (which happens to still run ).
We've updated it only three times and now have an eMac.
I have the laptop and desktop Win/* systems, the latter dual booting into
Redhat Linux.

The big niche for Mac is the graphic and no other platform begins to compete there.
For people that like/want to overclock, build your own and twiddle with the inards,
Intel is a natural fit. Mac users tend to buy machines to perform work rather
than to work upon.

Your milage may vary :-)

I always thought it would be interesting to install gentoo on a mac. I've never had the stones to shell out for the overpriced hardware. With the direction Apple is heading, this seems like a moot point.

I have been an MCSE for years ... yeah I know, but it pays the bills ;) I have been running one form of linux or another since around 1997. I just recently got a powerbook G4 and run OS X 10.4.2 I am now in the process of moving completely to alternative Operating Systems at home. You can do just about anything with Linux / OS X that you can with Windows. So in my opinion, a Mac Mini is well worth the money. Enough rabmling from me....

Dale

i heard there are apple hadware emulators out there, have any of you guyz tried running apple on the pc ?