Well I decided not to go for the Dell...not because I'm really expecting Apple to give me something a much better deal, but just because I decided to restrain myself from buying at all. So the credit card gets to stay in the wallet.
Maybe I'll be able to wait until the intel macs come out. By then the latest conroe PCs and PM's should compare much more favorable...hopefully....
Xephian, as for building my own, Dell can actually be cheaper in many cases. They've really done a good job driving prices down. I built all my PC's up to now but it's harder to justify the time now that I'm working all the time. I just wish they offer A64's...
P4 840: $540
XP Pro: $140
Intel 945P mobo: $160
2GB (512x4) RAM: $150
Geforce 6800: $210
Audigy 2: $70
Hitachi 500gb SATA drive: $330
Antec case w/450watt PSU: $110
16x DVD burner: $40
USB keyboard/mouse: $20
Media reader: $20
Office 2003 SBE: $235
That's over $2000 already and that's without the monitor, shipping, a 3 year warranty on everything and my time to assemble everything. Makes going pre-built look much better....