I am pretty sure that Macs have a firewall of sorts built in. File backups are automatic with a Mac. I plug in an aux drive, the Mac asks me if I want the drive to be a backup, I tell it yes and after that it takes care of itself.
I am not advocating that anyone switch to Mac. That was my solution when I got fed up with XP. I have never used Windows 7 but my understanding is that, unlike previous versions, it stays fast.
And yeah, Macs are expensive but I have owned quite a few Windows based laptops and none of them stood up to even very good treatment for more than two years before they fell apart from what I guess can only be described as minimal use and/or abuse. I am well into my fourth year with my MacBook. It's laser cut from a single slab of aluminum with a glass screen. The screen did, in fact, die a few months ago so I replaced it. The keys are beginning to show signs of wear and if I wasn't a touch typist that might be a problem. I confess that I did upgrade the hard drive and memory (by myself, of course) last year because I needed the space and since I had it opened up it seemed smart to add memory at the same time. At any rate, the MacBook while being the most expensive laptop I have ever owned is also hands down the best computer I have ever owned (well, except for the iMac).
Perhaps we are all going to be using tablets in the future. That seems to be the big picture with Windows 8. If that's the case then I will probably get an iPad at some point. I have resisted getting one because I didn't want to be an early adopter. I will wait until the technology is proven...completely proven and probably somewhat cheaper...before I get one. And that will, of course, include a solid state drive which is a good thing.
I do scratch my head at Microsoft, though. They are taking a big gamble with what they are doing to Windows. And they are (as stated in the above linked article) almost certainly pissing off a large segment of their established customer base in the process. Perhaps Bill Gates is losing his touch. Don't know.