Quote - ":.....The $2419....."

is probably why I'll never be able to afford to own a Mac. I'm quite happy with my $899 quad core Gateway.  I'd have to be able to get four times as much done with the Mac, to be able to justify it.

Actually, amortization already does that for you.

I bought my main CG box (a Mac dual G5) in 2004... four years ago. I could very conceivably continue to stretch it out until 2009 if I desired. I have yet to see any OEM-built PC last past three years of hard use... either the parts die off, the OS demands an upgrade that the box isn't capable of supporting, etc...

So I could either continue using the dual G5 until 2009, and have the $2100 originally spent on it amortize down to $350/yr for reasonable high-end performance throughout the majority of its lifespan. Stretch it out to 2010, and it drops to $300/yr.

Or... I could buy a $900 box every three years, plus OS/Antivirus/etc upgrades as they come out, which comes to just a little over the same amount - just that you have to deal with such things as bitrot and obsolescence in the meanwhile.

/P