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I just built a PC with a quad 2.66 GHz processor, 8 gigs of ram, a DVDR drive, 2 1 TB hard drives and an ATI 4850 HD video card plus sundry necessary hardware for.....$1000 (all parts bought retail from Newegg).

I assume your homebrew PC has workstation grade Xeon® processors (currently $1019 each from Newegg) with 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM and a 1000 Watt power supply in an aircraft grade, custom engineered aluminum case, like the Mac Pro?

If so, how did you do it for $1000?

Actually if I was going to use Intel, I would have used the i7 920 Nehalem 2.66 quad (it's the same chip as the XEON but is over-clockable, which the XEON isn't, and it doesn't have the ECC turned on) currently selling for $279 so add a hundred for the chip and another hundred for the more expensive MB; you're still at $1200 and you can overclock it if you choose.

I prefer AMD chips so I'm using the AM# Phenom II. Then again I'm using 1333 DDR3 SDRAM - no ECC (it serves no real purpose any more) and the case is a Coolmaster Storm Scout a highly regarded high quality case with superior cooling, filters and a nifty carrying handle.

Unless you are running a server the use of XEON chips is massive overkill. The only real difference is that XEON chips, like their Opteron AMD opposites, are tested to a much higher standard. The general reliability of commercial chips is such that for a work station or for home computing purposes server grade chips are unnecessary and a waste of money...unless you are looking for snob appeal, which most Mac users are.

I'm happy to go on trading shots, you can't win because you have no real arguments. Apple Mac Pros are way overpriced (2-3 times) for the computing power you are getting.

I'm sure that Mac Pros are wonderful computers, I'm just not willing to pay the price for a cult status. Bragging rights is a poor reason to spend an extra grand or two.