The mandatory interface changes in Office 2007, the hardware requirements imposed by both Office 2007 and Windows Vista...well, we are going to upgrade to Ubuntu and OpenOffice instead of forking over more money to Microsoft.
At least if you buy an Apple product, you get something decent. There is no compelling reason to buy Microsoft Windows or Office any more, at least, from the perspective of an individual or a family.
I always build my own.
2008 may not be a good year to buy (or build) a PC at all.
There’s a lot of significant long-term hardware changes happening at once right now - DDR3; 64-bit compatibility; Intel Core 3 Octo; depreciation of PCI, PS2, and LPT, etc. But much of the new technology will remain expensive throughout 2008.
Office 2000 went on just fine.