PC or Mac?

That's a lie, Macs do get viruses.
*sigh*
I like Macs better because you don't have to click 2+ times to get from point A to point B. You only have to click once.
Macs are just easier on your mouse-hand, especially if you have wrist pains after working long hours.
For you, I think a PC might be better, your just writing documents, surfing 'net, and sending emails.
You might want to pickup AVG Anti-Virus when you get PC.

As for macs, I would only suggest them if your going to be managing huge amounts of files. For example. Data entry, photography, graphic design. These fields work great with Mac because mac has more tools geared for large file management, for quickly managing a thousand files at once.

Now maybe if your work included managing a business and you were expecting to be keeping accounting records I might see you tipping towards PC to have MS Excel & Access at your finger tips because you can do accounting books, Gannt charts, pretty much any chart you'd want to help you manage your money and your business, would be on there.

My experience on Linux is limited to 1, 15 minute session.

Macs are faster, more powerful and don't get viruses.

If you like just to do what you had already mentioned, then linux is perfect. Its cheaper, lighter, faster. But if you want more specialised software you should go for Windows.

I'll make a plug for Linux, because it's customizable, etc, blah blah blah...

...but it's a LOT easier than it used to be. I just installed the most recent version of Ubuntu Desktop and it doesn't require you to delve into minutiae of packages and drivers and display specs and network wireless wrappers...

I dropped it on a USB stick, plugged it in, bing bam boom. Best of all, you can try it by running it *off the USB stick* without installing it on your computer.

You get the advantage of not being a virus target, like a Mac, without having the pay Mac premium pricing. You get to use any cheap PC deal you want (w/o having to pay a premium for the O/S), installing Linux over or in addition to what you've got. There's plenty of free software for Linux and of increasing quality (notably, OpenOffice does a good job of replacing Microsoft Office at least for general use, as well as importing/exporting docs).

If you want to be a serious computer geek and customize your O/S at the package or even coding level, you can. If you want to just install it like it's Windows and forget about it, you can do that too. And there's often pretty good informal support -- a lot of Linux users are at least moderately informed about their systems, so you can often ask a question and get some helpful replies back in a hurry (with Windows, there's a vast number of ppl who just use Windows and know little about what's "under the hood", and a relatively smaller number of experts).

Anyhow, at least try Linux -- like I said, you can try it w/o installing (and thereby have a "portable OS" across different computers even). Good luck!

Mac because I find it the best idea for security reasons, social media, e-mail, web publishing, research, sharing of all kinds, and rich media downloads.

It depends on what you do, and what you use your computer for.
I use linux for work but I am developing my own system.
If you are used to windows, then windows is better for you esp if you only use it for word processing, email and surfing. I use yahoo to shield me from viruses distributed via email.
If you have the money, I don't, then mac is probably a good choice. it is definitely the elite option. I don't know what its like for developing software on, cos I've never tried, but i imagine it has an excellent word processor, web access and email handling. It may even be better for virus protection. but linux is likely as good for virus protection. linux is improving for ease of set up, but its not necessarily a user friendly option.

A Mac is better for your work because it is virus free and whenever you go online it is safer to surf the internet.