Fun reading the string on a saturday morning.
Macs have consumer level (-10) stereo line inputs. These levels are the sort you see on CD or DVD players with RCA connectors as output jacks.
PC can have mono or stereo inputs at whatever level the card is designed for.
There is relatively new technology out the there today; USB mics. They have no conventional audio connectors, just a USB plug. The don't require a preamp. You just plug them in and choose them as inputs from the Apple control panel.
Audio Technica has modded a version of their AT2020 to do this. Street price should be about $150. I have one here now an am reviewing it for a trade magazine.
Rode makes one that's more expensive, $299, but it has a feature that may be very important to you if you are used to hearing yourself while you are speaking,
USB has latency. If you monitor yourself speaking, the sound comes back to the headphones slightly delayed. This can be very offputting. The Rode Podcaster has a headphone jack ON THE MIC. Great idea.
Already got a good analog system? Try this:
http://www.henryeng.com/USBmatch.html
Regards,
Ty Ford
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Ty Ford's Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
