Seeing as how both aspects are now exceedly powerful, which do you prefer?

A sword or a scroll? A hammer or a wand?

Personally, Bateluer prefers the sword. The sole purpose of the mages is to dispel enemry magic and assist the fighters with larger targets.

My bro prefers magic users, indeed his ToB party consists of Him(sorcerer), Nalia, Imoen, Aeria, Anomen, and Minsc. Minsc serves only to slow down the enemy to allow his mages to loose their spells.

I respect and use them both. That's why I'm using fighter/mage/thief for main character. However, if the question is between priest and mage spells, I'd take mage because of healing potions that exist in the game in pretty big amounts (plus ring of regeneration very early in the game).

I also use both quite often. Usually, I like dual classing my mages. It's not something I always do; simply something prefered. Lately I've been using my favorite main character, Xalen, a fighter D mage for most D&D games I play. It's just been something I've always leaned toward.