Sigh, you're missing the point. If you need what that 8k computer can do (and there are tens of thousands of people who do), nothing is as powerful as the Mac in its price range... nothing.

For those people, it's not overpriced, it's not unnecessary, and nothing can be built that's cheaper and can do the job just as well. Nothing.

It's overpriced to play games and browse the web. No one, not even Apple, is expecting you to buy it for that reason. Have you ever seen a TV add for a Mac Pro? No. They only advertise I-Pods, Laptops, and I-Macs. There is a reason for that ;) 

Sigh, you're missing the point. If you need what that 8k computer can do (and there are tens of thousands of people who do), nothing is as powerful as the Mac in its price range... nothing.

For those people, it's not overpriced, it's not unnecessary, and nothing can be built that's cheaper and can do the job just as well. Nothing.

It's overpriced to play games and browse the web. No one, not even Apple, is expecting you to buy it for that reason. Have you ever seen a TV add for a Mac Pro? No. They only advertise I-Pods, Laptops, and I-Macs. There is a reason for that ;) 

 Perfect summary of Mac users and PC users.  Most PC users really don't love Windows, but they know that Macs suck and that Mac people in particular suck.

 What? Why don't you just go to Dell or HP and check out the XPS, and Blackbird. Those things come with Core 2 Extremes, Dual-Configured Geforce 8800 Ultras, 4 GB of RAM, Blu-ray drives, etc... for extreme performance or for gaming which the Mac configuration you posted won't really fare well. They cost less or around $8000. Anyways, you're arguing against the position that PCs are cheaper than Macs by taking a minority high end group and say "See, in this case, Macs are cheaper." What about the general public who current won't need anything more than a C2D, 2GB of RAM, and some mid end graphics card? Are Macs cheaper then? I think you were the one who missed the point.

 That computer would be a lot slower. As for the bolded text....

Don't buy a Mac Pro. That's not the market Apple is making the thing for. of course it's the wrong tool for the job. Why are you guys not getting this.

How about this for an example. let's say I built the fastest gaming rig in the world, and sold it for $800, and there was a forum where people who just sent emails and browsed the web talked about the best PC for that task. If they bashed my $800 gaming rig as way over priced because they could do everything they needed on a $350 computer, would they be right?

No. It's still an awesome gaming rig for less then any other gaming rig on the market. If Apple released a computer designed for gaming, and it was overpriced, I would understand. That's not the case here. This computers is not made for games.

If you want to complain that Apple does not target the masses with a good gaming computer, sign me up, I will be the first to agree. But that's different then saying this computer is overpriced. 

Apple doesn't make real desktop computers. The iMacs are designed for soccer moms that don't know anything about computers. If you want to customize your computer and save money, then the obvious choice is PC.

However, when if comes to Laptops I think the Macbooks Pros are better than any other laptop available. They have amazing track pads and a very durable metal case. The battery lasts twice as long as any PC laptop I have ever had. OSX is a more pleasant experience than Windows if you are willing to learn how to use it. I also have XP installed via parallels so I don't even need to restart my computer to use windows programs. Also Macs come out of sleep in like 3 seconds verses windows computers that take 30 seconds to a minute(in my experience).

When it comes to gaming, I use my Wii.

Edit: I can't stand external mouse for Apple computers either, but track pads on the laptop are awesome. 

First, I didn't not realize that the Xeon were workstation processors and not targeted at consumers looking for personal use so what was the point of the original configuration? Your statement is correct-Don't buy a Mac Pro. You're suppose to be using for technical applications, not for personal use which is the entire point.

And your example is still incorrect as your Mac configuration is inaccessible commercially but high end gaming rigs are bought or built all over the place. Let's say you built a top of the line Mac computer and sold it for $800 but people suddenly discover that they can buy a PC with the same performance capability for $350. Would they be right in calling your computer overpriced? Hell yeah, they would and that's the general situation we live in today. Macs are overpriced compared to the PC equivalents and generally not upgradable with a better operating system (maybe). And what is this computer you're referring to that's overpriced? The $8000 one? Even that one is not worth the money as while its strong in one area, it's weaker in others which drag it down significantly. And did I see it only has 2 GB of RAM? You need to spend more money to put more in?

So basically it has come down to Macs being better for

A) the super high end user, who uses it for intense processing, scientific research, etc.

B) laptop users.

Well hell, I would have agreed on that point a long time ago, but that's assuming I wouldn't want to use my laptop for gaming either.

Apparently most Mac users are MacBook users, and so no sh*t they don't want to play games on a laptop; I wouldn't either.

But I love my desktop, and it's awesome for videogames...I'd say a lot of you don't know what you're missing.

And yeah, this:

"How about this for an example. let's say I built the fastest gaming rig in the world, and sold it for $800, and there was a forum where people who just sent emails and browsed the web talked about the best PC for that task. If they bashed my $800 gaming rig as way over priced because they could do everything they needed on a $350 computer, would they be right?

No. It's still an awesome gaming rig for less then any other gaming rig on the market. If Apple released a computer designed for gaming, and it was overpriced, I would understand."

Apple releases computers designed for general computing use.  They typically have ?notsure? dual-cores, a fairly decent graphics card, a generally easy-to-use OS, enough memory, enough hard drive space, etc.  AND YOU CAN GET ALL THAT FOR MUCH CHEAPER by building your own PC; and not just an average PC; you could build an awesome PC gaming rig for much less than the general Mac.

So it's not "oh, I don't need the stuff that your Mac has, so it's overpriced!"  It's "I HAVE MORE THAN YOUR MAC, and  MY PC COST MUCH MUCH LESS!"

You had it backwards, my friend.

Linux FTW.

Mac.

I tried functioning with Windows the other day and was absolutely irked at how slow it is--even with high end hardware--and how all this other crap, like spyware protection, is needed. It's so bulky with needless crap and the bugs run so rampant with the OS.

I leave my gaming to my console and the rest to my mac. It's by far the greatest investment I've ever made.