The main focus of Apple was NEVER pro users, they have always been a niche market. True that the recent focus has shifted even more to the "i" market, but It seems like you are not being devastated by the effects of this partial neglect.
Sorry, but I have to include my two cents. I couldn't help but note that this poster arguing with the thread originator already admitted he is 17 and "far from a professional" himself.
You are quite wrong. I've been working in environments with Macs in print/multimedia since you've been alive. Mac was the DEFAULT choice of pro users in the creative world in the 90s and until fairly recently, and they knew it, and everyone knew it.
Since Jobs made his "truck" analogy last week, I think it's reasonable to assume that Apple isn't making "mac" the priority that "i" will be. On that we all agree.
I am similarly disappointed in what has happened to the MP line. We were all hoping we'd get more robust Macs with the Intel move. At my company, we purchased a MP for video rendering purposes last year. It cost twice as much as an equivalent PC would have, but we did it because we're on the Mac platform already and have invested in Final Cut. Results have not really been mind-blowing, either.
If someone were telling me that they are thinking of starting up a business -- or were even just enthusiasts/educators/dreamers -- involving video production, my professional advice would not be to throw in your lot with the Macintosh platform at this time. It used to always be "have faith, Apple will make better products and you'll come out ahead in the long run," but now I don't think so.
As a personal, stand-alone anecdote, I built a W7 computer with a core i7 with an SSD boot, and it cost more than a $1,000 less than an equivalent MP (not that a single Xeon is equivalent to a single i7-860, anyway) and I see no reasons why I would make any of the extra investment back if I had purchased a MP.
Come on into the Windows7 rendering pool. The water's fine.
.
