OK, so here is an interesting shootout, take the Dell XPS 410 that has the Core Duo and compare it with the Apple iMac.
The iMac is $2200, has a 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4MB cache, 1GB of 667MHz DDR2-SDRAM (PC2-5300), 250GB 7200rpm SATA Drive , nVidia GeForce 7600GT 256MB SDRAM and includes 1 year of repair and 90 days of over the phone support for $2200.
Anandtech looked at a sample Dell which was similarly configured with Dell P965 BTX motherboard, Intel Core Duo 2 E660600 (2.4GHz 4MB), 2×1GB Nanya PC-5300 5-5-5-15 Ram, GeFore 7900 GTX, 2×320GB WD 7200 RPM and a 24" Dell 2407WFP. So it is a bit higher at $2900 (vs. 2700 for a homebrew similar system). The overclock loving XPS 700 costs about $400 more and the assembly and Dell name costs about $200 more than a home built system.
The net conclusion is the 2407WFP is an amazing monitor for any system. At $800 street, its a great buy if you want really great video quality. They do say that it is a decent machine and that you should get the $50 upgrade to the #6400 and that you can safely get the nVidia 7900 GS without losing much gaming performance, so if you are stuck on a decent performaning machine it isn't a bad choice. The net price would be $2300 where the big differences are a 2×250GB, 2GB of DDR 667, ATI RAdeon X1300 Pro 256MB (if you are a gamer a 7900GS is $150 more). So it ends up being about the same price as the Apple when you consider upgrades.
However its interesting to see how close the Apple iMac is actually in terms of pricing and performance. Makes it a winner from the POV of ease of use, etc if you want something really plug and play.
