And I thought my next desktop computer will be a Mac ...

I was totally serious about getting a Mac as my desktop until I started to do the math, and found that Mac is simply too costly.

In fact, the last nail on the coffin just put down today. I ordered a DELL Dimension 9200 desktop machine with Intel Quad Core process and 2Gb of memory. The graphic card isn't something state of the art (128MB nVidia GeForce 8300 GS ), but sure better than my old desktop graphic card (Nvidia FX5200) . For US$660 (tax and shipping included), I think it's a pretty nice purchase.