Okay, time to revisit this thread now that Apple's new announcements are on deck.

Option #1: Ubuntu boxes from System76.com. Fully decked out, with a 3.4GHz Core i7 Quad, 32GB of RAM, 2x2TB hard drives plus a 240GB SSD, and a 24" display, and a 3 year warranty, the price comes out to $2389 per seat.

Option #2: Mac mini, maxxed out (2.6GHz Core i7 Quad, 2x1TB hard drives, 16GB RAM) is $1655 plus a monitor is going to be around $2000.

Option #3: The new 27" iMac, top of the line, starts at $1899 (academic price). It's unknown what the price will be once you get done bumping up the specs.

I'm strongly tempted to go with option #1, especially since some of my students favor Ubuntu for their desktops and have separate Mac laptops.

Thoughts?