Rob Griffiths of Macworld.com thought a PC was a PC and decided to build one that runs OS X. <[URL]http://www.macworld.com/article/133028/2008/04/building_mac_clone.html>[/URL] It's pretty much on par with a Mac Pro, sometimes a little better sometimes not quite as good... but it's less than half the price. Of course, before he ends up, he has a word for would be hackers. Hey, he works for MacWorld. If he wants to get samples of future products, he better not say you can hack the equivalent of a Mac Pro for less than half the price. So, he advises that upgrades might prove problematic. I suppose this is true. Of course, this is not one of Apple's problem when they build computers. And it takes time. Some twenty hours, he says. Four to put the computer together, 16 to get OS X to work. Of course, this is not one of Apple's problem. And, of couse, OS X is not Linux, you have to somehow buy OS X. (BTW, any idea on how Psystar plans to get some err... let's say 10000 copies of OS X a week from Apple?) The hardware being standard PC, just as Apple's, it's not a problem. But the casing, the casing, oh, Lord! You have to remove screws, it swings open on plastic hinges, wiring is all over the place, and it has a dull spot on its finish!!! Certainly, he and I didn't buy from the same Antec company. Mine has no dull spot. Had it had one, I would have brought it back and I'm sure it would have been exchanged right on the spot. Antec is a serious company. It opens by unsnapping the front cover and sliding the sides forwards: no screws and no hinges. Indeed, wires are all over the place because there are no special compartments to make accessing the hardware more difficult and prevent good airflow. Accessing memory is no more a problem than if it was sliding out. Dammit, it's right there on the board! Oh, I forgot, I never had to use sandpaper to remove cutting edges and never cut myself. It's true that mine is a cheaper model: he paid 0, I paid half as much. So, my advice remains the same. Of course, you may hack yourself a Mac, but it's a lot of pain and you may never be able to update. *Or*, you may build yourself the very same PC, and use Linux. Of course, Spaces will be called "virtual desktops". Of course, you have only 12 instead of 16, but I have only 2 enabled. Mandrake works very well, updates are checked every day automatically and it's safe. Say, for exemple, Apple doesn't like your face and you go to Apple's site, they might very well screw up your internet connection. But a Linux user knows the bare basics. If this happens, where have they written to? Yes, the /tmp directory! Clean it, and you're through. That's when things go *really, really, really* bad. You've got to face knowledgeable crackers. So, when you want a good Mac clone with as little pain as possible, I suggest a plain PC and Mandrake Linux. That's unless you really don't want to call Places... I mean Spaces, virtual desktops.