thanks for all the comments.

a note to PAGzone, I couldn't agree with you more about macs being a more elegant solution. and I have dual 1.25 right now that is pretty fast at rendering, but my needs in computing have changed, and I find myself needing portability.

so I'm getting a powerbook, selling the dual 1.25, and grabbing a reasonably priced pc to do the rendering on.

this way i can still have desktop power when i absolutely need it, but most of the time i will be still using a mac.

about new macs -- i can't wait. but i'm really excited about the machines that will eventually be coming out with IBM powerpc chips. that won't be for a couple years. sigh.

anyway thanks for all the advice.

-scott