Mac look alike?

[Patton Echols]

My daughter is interested in replacing her laptop and has said she is 
interested in a Mac.  Seems to be mostly because of the eye candy and 
the scroll type launcher.  But I've never used a Mac so I've no idea 
really what she is looking at.  Are there settings that could be used 
for a similar look and functionality on the desktop?  Are there things 
that a Mac does that can be cloned?  If there are suggestions, I will 
try it on her account on my desktop machine and see how she likes it.

Thanks

--PE