I think I remember coming across a thread here a few weeks ago about building your own mac... some parts were not easy to find but it could be done for a relatively low amount of money - comparatively speaking to buying a new system.

Drakino - you made the point about the nice small form factor of the cube. I used to make fun of the cube but when I found out how small it was, I changed my viewpoint. If it has been one advantage the Mac has had is its control over the engineering that goes into the box (this can also be a disadvantage when it comes to serviceability and upgradeability for us geeks & gearheads). I have had my eye on the Shuttle boxes for a while, and someone showed up at our lan party with one, they are very nice and sleek and still offer a high degree of upgradeability - but will never be as small as a cube.

I speak mainly as a PC guy - but I had my start with Macs, and although I've periodically been known to poke fun at them after I built my first PCs - I had a fondness for hacking system 6.5, and system 7 when it came out. Before Regedit, there was Resedit. My teachers at school (I was in high school at the time) did not particularly appreciate me replacing certain files and the mouse pooping on the screen in the middle of class.

All I can say is this, and it was summed up a few posts ago... you use the platform and OS that suits your purposes. I've been warming up to the idea of building a box to run OS X possibly... but I may never replace my PC. Macs don't play current games, and aren't terribly lan party friendly, but I like the thought of running my email on a Mac. Besides, I am immersed and happy with my current, stable w2k setup. Sure, some of the Mac commercials are dumb, and although, IMO, the Imac is an eyesore - it was an excellent piece of marketing and changed the way computers were and are sold and marketed.

I still like this one Gateway commercial I saw, "Dude, you still getting a Dell?" "Mooo"