Dual Xeon vs. Dual G5 $

an okay comparison, but lacking in one thing. The Dell has a 3yr warranty and support - you have to throw in an Applecare package to match that. Still, the PM saves you hundreds of dollars - more RAM - Yippee!

Don't forget it is 24hr onsite support. Apple's 1 year mail in support does not even begin to compare (nor does 3yr extension - sill mail in).

Also notice Office XP and Adobe Acrobat.

And the Fire GL video card.

And the 2nd hard drive.

Also have the option for 2 optical drives and 4 internal hard drives with the Dell.

Either way, it is very impressive that this can be a serious conversation now (G4 is a joke as a workstation).

yzedf,

24 hour onsite support may be good, but don't forget, Apple has designed their computers not to need as much support. Regardless, it does not make up the difference in price.

Even when Office XP and Acrobat(not needed anyways) are taken out, there is still about a $700 price difference I believe.

Fire GL is simply the PC version of OpenGL, built into OS X, nothing missing there.

The 2nd hard drive was only added to bring the total storage capacity up to the same amount on both computers (160 GB). Also noticed that the G5 has Serial ATA while the Xeon has only IDE, and two of them already, taking up part of the extra expansion capability.

The extra optical bay is a definent lack, but at least you have a 4x SuperDrive, so most people won't need a 2nd bay. Still doesn't make up for the price difference. Same goes for the hard drives.

Also, you overlooked one thing. The SPEC scores for the G5 are up to 4 times faster than the Xeon, so you're getting a faster, better computer for cheaper, missing only a few minor features.

JW

Not quite.

Fire GL is simply the PC version of OpenGL, built into OS X, nothing missing there.
JW [/B][/QUOTE]

Quite wrong. Fire GL is a (powerfull, expensive) graphics card, not a specification. Open GL has been around on PC's for a long time.

A jump down to 2.8's would probably take a massive chunk out of the price of this system.

Lastly, don't get me wrong, the Dual G5 is great...

When talking about workstations, 24hr onsite warranty is not that good, and Apple doesn't even offer that. A good warranty can cost you over $1000.

You can replace IDE with SCSI if you like.

Fire GL is a $500 video card.

SPEC scores are for GCC only. Most PC apps use Intel's compiler. Look at the SPEC website for scores that the Xeon is capable of (1200-ish).

2 of 4 harddrives vs 1 of 2? I don't see your logic on that one.

The G5 does have advantages, but most are not that big of a deal. For me, as a workstation, Apple's warranty is the killer. I need people here now to fix something (with all computers it is not if, but when), no if's, and's, or but's about it.

I need to drop this fact:

As a personal, home computer user, who also uses heavy applications such as Flash, Fireworks, and Mathematica, (and Folding@Home), the faster the computer, the better.

Fact #2:

I have been using computers with the Apple, Macintosh, or Newton logo on them for nearly 15 years, and I or my parents have never once needed to call Apple Technical Support / AppleCare.

My 2¢.