I need help with new Mac for my parents...

[cprise]

6. I'm pretty sure you have to go to an Apple store

You are much more likely to get in-house service from those Linux vendors he listed. Many PC vendors have service contracts with on-site technician outfits like Unisys and TRW (even my cheapo TigerDirect system got a house call).

I own a couple Macs and all I ever heard of was shipping RMA or going to the Apple store. No house calls from Apple.

Also, Apple has become very restrictive about how OS X is distributed which is why you can no longer find it (other than upgrades) in their online store. For the most part, even getting a full working copy of it is tied to having a physical Mac. You might have to turn to a bootleg, hacked copy to get it to work within a VM, and that will be missing all of the creative/productivity apps that usually come with a Mac.

The main challenge with Linux in this context is that if you really want to help them out yourself, and you are not running your own OS that is the exact same distro and release version as your parents are, then telling them how to navigate through some mundane processes could be next to impossible.

But I recommend that you save them the $$$ and get them a pre-installed Linux system. Tracking their distro version wouldn't be that difficult, IMO.