Hey Savnac,
A quick search yielded some results for me about your patching maya.
The Alias Site Seems to have what you're looking for with mac specific patches.

As far as working on a mac vs PC with maya, well if you get a chance go to a store that has 3d world and read their article.
Pixar uses macs. Need I say more about the cartoon industry, and Macs?

Personally I use Maya on my Macbook and my windows destkop computer. I find that the mac works just as well, if not better than Maya on Pc. If someone wants to hinder your progress by saying that its because you are on a mac well fear not, many more plugins are being created for both pc and mac, and some now are strictly mac only. The only thing that may hinder your ability now is being that you are running 5.0. But keep your head high and do your best, I'm sure we here will help you as best we can.


-Alexander