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Yeah, right. An Ee PC in a store? They're only on eBay I bought mine from a store and (except for the 8G), they still have them in stock.

They're a fucking vaporware Funny, for vapour they sure are tangible.

I want one so bad it hurts. So go buy one.

>Take whatever specs your mac is and build one comparable from Dell or wherever

yes, this has been done. over and over. and either Apple wins bit a little bit or loses by a little bit.

so how about YOU show us the numbers that say otherwise? You say it "loses by a little bit"? $2000 is "a little bit"? I just priced up a Mac Pro on the Apple Store (Canada) and a normal PC from my local store, Memory Express.

First, the apple store one:
Two 2.66GHz Dual-core Intel Xeon
4GB Memory (4x1GB)
500GB 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s HDD
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (The QuadroFX was $1680 MORE, and no x2xxx or nvidia 8xxx series available at all)
Optical - One 16x Superdrive
Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
Mac OSX - English

Total: $4092.00

And the Memory Express one:
Processor : Intel Core(TM)2 Quad Processor Q6600 2.4GHz w/ 2x4MB Cache 1 $299.95
CPU Heatsink / Fan : Intel Retail Heatsink and Fan 1 $0.00
Motherboards : eVGA nForce 680i LT SLI w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, Dual PCI-E x16 SLI 1 $219.95
Memory : Kingston HyperX 2GB PC2-6400 Low Latency Dual Channel DDR2 Kit (2 x 1GB, NVIDIA SLI-Ready) 2@$169.95=$339.90
Case : Antec P180B Advanced Super Mid Tower, Black 1 $144.95
Power Supplies : Antec TruePower Quattro 850W Power Supply 1 $194.95
Hard Drives 1 : Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache 1 $119.95
Optical Drive 1 : LG Super Multi DVD Writer 18x18x10 DVD +/-RW Dual-Layer, SATA w/ Lightscribe, Black (OEM) 1 $39.95
Video Cards : Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, TV-Out 1 $189.95
Keyboards : Microsoft Ergonomic Value Pack, Keyboard and Mouse, OEM 1 $49.95
Operating System : Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate x64 (64-bit) DVD, OEM, 1-Pack 1 $214.95
Assembly : Please Assemble Hardware + Load my O/S 1 $70.00
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        Sub-Total: $1884.45
        GST: $113.07
        Total Cost: $1997.52
        Alberta Recyling Fee(For residents of Alberta only): $10.00
        Total(With Recyling Fee) (For residents of Alberta only):
        $2008.12

So take the difference between these (roughly) equivalent systems: $4092-$2008=$2084

Yes you can buy TWO of the custom systems for the price you can buy an apple with! And that's even counting that I put a better mobo and power supply in the custom one than really necessary (I should have picked a cheaper ATI-based mobo & smaller PSU), so shave off another $100 at least. And go through the menu at the apple store to see how MUCH the upgrades were. It is really nuts. It was $839 to go from 1GB to 4GB of RAM, which is just stupid. And the HDD upgrade from 250 to 500GB was twice as much as the entire 500GB drive for the custom system. This is all discounting the fact you can't GET a good graphics card for the Apple, like any 8800-series card, which is why I picked the "best for non-insane prices" at the mac store, then took the closest equivalent at my local store.

I couldn't get a whole lot closer with the limited options Apple gives at its site, but the bottom line is clear: Apple is at LEAST 2x as expensive on high-end machines, and you'd be nuts to go with them if you're looking for performance. I was seriously considering buying a Mac for my next computer and probably dual-booting to windows for games (with bootcamp)... then I priced one out like this and promptly dismissed the idea. Apple MIGHT be able to compete on the low-end or on laptops, but on the high end they're insane if they want people to pay these prices.