New family computer

[SirJ]

Hey everyone, I've been talking with my dad and he is looking for a new computer to replace our very old dell. I convinced him to look at an imac (he's a lifelong windows guy) and he informed me the "apple tax" is too high. Obviously he is referring to the price.
Now, I realize that OS X beats Windows hands down but price is a big concern for us, so I'm not sure if the mac is going to happen. What he wants is:
2.4 GHz processor
at least 2GB RAM
plenty of HD space (250 and up maybe?)
good video card
As I said price is an issue and the specs rule out the mac mini, so does anyone have some suggestions? I really appreciate your help, everyone here has always been very courteous when I've posted before.

 

[Eidorian]

A Dell Inspiron 518 with a Q6600 and a third party ATi 4670?

 

[richard.mac]

well Macs are priced higher because they are targeted at the niche market and can be considered similar to buying a BMW or Mercedes. its still a car and has the same parts but the design, furnishings and the cool factor justify the price.

the iMac is a very thin and powerful all-in-one computer. youd struggle to find a computer that looks as good and is built and performs as well as the iMac.

plus tell your Dad that you can install Window on it if you want for the best of both worlds. its the only computer atm that can legally run Mac OS X and Windows.