Max,

I move back and forth between Mac and PC all day and once you're in Carrara, you'll never notice a difference between similarly spec'ed machines. Based on a few benchmarking threads around here, the Athlons respond really well to Carrara and are probably a great choice for someone on a budget.

Good luck,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
3D plug-ins for Carrara
http://digitalcarversguild.com

Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
Carrara and LightWave plug-ins