[citation][nom]tidex[/nom]compared to what? alienware?every other computer company on the planet sells cheaper computers than apple. lets start with your typical macbook prohttp://www.apple.com/mac/whichmacbook/compare.html2.53GHz Intel Core i5 processor500GB 5400-rpm hard driveIntel HD GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 512MB GDDR3 memory$2299now here are some laptops on newegg with about the same specshttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834152200$799http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6834114925$999now lets move onto the iMachttp://store.apple.com/us/browse/h [...] RTING-IMAC27-inch: 2.8GHz2.8GHz Intel Core i52560-by-1440 resolution4GB (two 2GB) memory1TB hard drive18x double-layer SuperDriveATI Radeon HD 5750 with 1GB$1,999.00http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6883229199$899http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6883103265$679it was hard to even find specs that low. these are actually overpriced in comparison.And finally the Mac Prohttp://store.apple.com/us/browse/h [...] TM3NDc2NTk12-CoreTwo 2.66GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors6GB (six 1GB) memory1TB hard drive18x double-layer SuperDriveATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB GDDR5$4,999.00sadly since no one is stupid enough to buy a prebuilt with a xeon I cannot give you an example however I have created the equivalent by hand including priceshttp://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] CatId=5962$1,299.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231225$129.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136284$87.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106346$139.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188067$599.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129042$54.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835203002$60http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006$109.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161301$399.99=$2875you are paying THOUSANDS of dollars more for a mac compared to a prebuilt.you are a fool if you honestly believe macs are reasonably priced. you are paying for a case.[/citation]
I think you're missing a 27" IPS LCD display with your iMac comparison.
With your Mac Pro comparison you're missing a whole CPU but the Mac Pro only has 2.66Ghz Westmere so really (2x $1025), $30 for another heatsink, you're missing an OS ($180 for Win 7 Ult 64-bit), add $35 for ECC memory (these are Xeons, remember?), let's say $250 for a quality 1200W PSU, subtract $110 for optical drive (Mac Pro only has DVD-/+RW not BluRay), subtract $250 for video card (Mac Pro only has 5770, not 5870), and we'll say $100 for a multi-touch mouse and regular keyboard. Add $20 for WiFi and $20 for Bluetooth. Another $40 for FireWire 800. So now it's more like $3783.
So, the Mac is still more expensive. But you also get a full year warranty on the whole system and tech support. There is a retail store you can bring it into for help. It's all built for you, which I guess doesn't matter if your time is not worth anything. You're not gonna find many pre-builts cheaper than your custom built.