[mdawson]

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The OS is the jewel, but the hardware pays the bills.

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Well stated.

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If you have the room and the money, a tower configuration and giant monitor is the way to go for a desktop. IMacs compactness is no advantage for a significant market segment which includes me.

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While I can definitely agree on the point about the iMacit is a consumer-level Mac and while plenty powerful, iMacs do not serve the power/pro-user over the long runI cannot agree about the tower statement. Unfortunately, where Apple is concerned the power/pro user that wants even a modicum of future-proofing has no choice but to go to the extreme case and purchase a tower.
With the availability of multi-core processors, higher capacity DIMMs, terabyte hard drives, etc., an expandable pro system could be designed in a much smaller form factor. Given the number of technologies that are standard on a Mac, as opposed to the average PC tower that still wastes motherboard/rear panel space on obsolete interfaces, towers are overkill for many, dare I write most, power users on the Mac platform. A great deal of what Wintel users add to their systems are standard on a Mac and that is one of the reasons why a Mac Pro, and previously the Power Macs, can get by with fewer expansion slots. Outside of the minority of pro users that need to add proprietary devices to their computer out-of-the-box due to the nature of their profession (e.g., my instrumentation lab), most power users only need a safety net to keep their computer current over its lifetime; their primary needs are processing power, memory and storage capacity. Therefore, in a great many cases, the pro users need for tower systems parallels the average Americans need for big SUVs.
Of course, we as Mac users no longer have the middle option. Most Wintel OEMs offer powerful, expandable systems in much smaller chassis, if only as desktop kludges. I am sure that Apple can come up with something better than the Wintel OEM pattern of using a desktop form-factor tilted on its side as a smaller-than-a-tower pro solution.

[VeggieBeefcake]

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I need a travel only computerSony TX series is the perfect size for me personally (even though it is expensive as hell). Fujitsu, and possibly others, also make laptops just slightly larger and cheaper than the Sony but considerably smaller than any Mac. And unlike the most compact Macs, they all have an important travel featurePCMCIA or Express slots.
I dont need MacPros power, or its price. IMac has the perfect power level but dont like the all-in-one for several reasons.

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How are you able to overlook the "all in one" form factor of the laptops, but unable to do so when looking at an iMac?

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It's quite easy, actually. I own a Macbook, but the only thing preventing me from buying a desktop tower from Apple is the fact that I too do not find any of Apple's offerings to be sufficient for my needs. The iMac's all in one design has always been a deal breaker for me, and the PowerMacs are far too expensive for what I'm looking to do. I simply want a mid range, use upgradeable tower. One accepts that a laptop is going to be rather confined when it comes to upgrade options, so it is far easier (in fact, effortless) to overlook that fact. For desktops, on the other, I don't feel I should have to sacrifice flexibility just so I can purchase a Mac within my price range. It's for that reason that I continue to use my custom built desktop while happily using my Mac portable.

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Therefore, in a great many cases, the pro users need for tower systems parallels the average Americans need for big SUVs

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Spoken like a true Apple apologist. Your over-generalizations make for very weak arguments. Though you would likely not admit it, you seem to be working with the assumption that the current Apple line-up is sufficient simply because it is the current Apple line-up. More and more, however, I hear people making the same request that I have been for about two years now; bring us a mid-range, user upgradeable tower. Who are you to say that we don't "need" a tower simply because, in your imagination, we have everything we need built into a Macbook? Trust me when I say that what I've added to my desktop PC does not merely bring it to feature parity with my Macbook; it exceeds it, but that is to be expected since the Macbook is a mobile device. What I want, however, is to have a Mac that suits my needs just about as closely as my PC currently does. In fact, simply by being equal in terms of expandability would make it superior (for me, anyway) simply by having OS X. As much as my PC suits my needs, I'd much rather put it behind me, unless of course you'd like to argue that I don't "need" the Mac. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[mdawson]

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Spoken like a true Apple apologist. Your over-generalizations make for very weak arguments. Though you would likely not admit it, you seem to be working with the assumption that the current Apple line-up is sufficient simply because it is the current Apple line-up.

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Did you actually read my post? I clearly stated that Apples current line-up is insufficient. I have been one of the loudest advocates on these boards for the missing Macan upgradeable system that falls distinctly between the iMac and Mac Pro, as such a system is what most pro users actually need.
Apples current offerings for pro users is all or nothing giving the pro user the choice of an iMac, which cannot be upgraded over its usable life, or Mac Pro, which is expandable beyond the needs of most pro users. Calling Apple on this glaring product omission, as I have often done on these boards, is hardly an apologist stance. And, I stand by my previous statement that the mindset that a pro user needs a tower is akin to needing an SUV.
Tower systems were necessary by default for pro users in the 1990s, but a powerful, upgradeable system can be built into a much smaller form factor given modern computer technology. The tower system still has its place, as I detailed previously, but most pro users do not need to add non-standard equipment to their computer from the outset while retaining the ability to update their hardware over the next 4 to 6 years. The I need a tower mentality amongst pro users is the same as the I need expansion slots mentality prevalent amongst a great many low-end users that are accustomed to cheap Wintel PCs that are nothing more than stripped down pro systems to begin with. They are used to having features that they sparsely, or never, use and feel the continued need to have these under-utilized options despite their genuine lack of such need.

[Randy_B_Singer]

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Maybe I'm confused, but no one was talking about emulating the PowerPC platform. The issue everyone is talking about is how hard it is to boot into OS X on an generic Intel-based computer.
And at the end of the day, illegal.

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PearPC allows you to emulate a PowerPC and run OS X on a generic Intel-based computer. Precisely what folks were asking how to do. It also allows you to do so without having to bypass any security measures, or by having to misuse any low level patented software (i.e. a Mac ROM).
I haven't carefully read the EULA for the Mac OS, but assuming that there isn't a clause in it restricting its use on an emulated platform, this would be a legal way to run OS X.
In other words, this would be an easy, inexpensive, and legal way to run OS X on a generic Intel-based PC.

[d00d]

I'm fairly certain the original poster's intent was to use OS X as the Dell's main OS, not under emulation.
As for using OS X on anything but a Mac, IANAL, but
the EULA seems pretty clear on it:

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2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. This License allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer at a time.

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[Martian]

Running a PowerPC emulator on an Intel processor is the mirror image of what Virtual PC didthat is run an Intel emulator on a Power PC.
Since VPC was agonizingly, painfully, unusably slow, wont PearPC be the same?

[d00d]

Yes, it would be.