“I still would like a Mac just for the sake of owning one and for curiosities sake.”
Same here, but is that any reason to buy the Mac Pro simply because Apple refuses to offer a mid-priced tower with desktop components (do you really need workstation Xeon chips and fully buffered, i.e. bottlenecked, RAM? Oh, for $2499 you will only get 1GB of it, so get ready to pay for more since many Pro users recommend AT LEAST 4GB!)?
I find it funny that the iMac-vs.-Dell photo features an XPS, a mid-priced tower that Apple has no comparison for. Many users want to pick their own monitor. With Apple you are stuck with the comical Mini or the overkill Pro (for perspective, when was the last time you or someone you know purchased a Dell XEON workstation?).
If you drop the whole workstation baloney, Dell has an XPS on their site right now for $2439 that has an Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB/Blu-Ray recordable/nVidia 756mb 8800 GTX/2GB ram and a 20” monitor (which I’d nix and add their 24”, but at least you get one!)
When it comes to a system like that Apple makes ZERO sense (they don’t offer such a thing: no Blu-Ray, no GeForce 8800, no 2GB ram, no VISTA...that’s a little joke for you, SWORD!).
I wouldn't spend $2499 on a Mac, so I'd be buying a used G4 or G5 Mac. Nope I don't need Xeon chips and to be honest I don't even need Dual processors or even core duo. Heck I don't even like Intel, so I'd be opting for AMD Athlon X2 or for laptop Turion X2 if I wanted dual core and had a choice with an Apple. Yeah 1gb is a joke, and I was wondering if the memory is standard DDR2 chips or some proprietary APPLE ONLY chips which are priced at a premium. I bought 2gbs (2-1gb chips) 3 months aqgo for $50, wonder how much it's going to cost for that on an Apple?
re: the Quad core XPS for $2349
Sure is. But that’s only one Quad core... Add the second one and see what the price comparison with a Mac.