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As it often happens, Erickson and I will be talking about computers and he'll make a statement about how great Macs are, almost always something about his beloved MacBook. I then respond that I'll never buy one until they sell one with a multi-button mouse. He replies (quite rightly) that you can plug whatever mouse you want into it. "But I hate Mac OS X," I opine, already aware of where this conversation is headed. He points out that I can just install Linux on it. I explain, "If I'm not going to run Mac OS X on it, I can just buy something else and not pay the Apple Tax." With a quite self-satisfied smirk, he brings up his ultimate point: "There is no Apple Tax. Apples cost as much or less than similarly equipped PCs from other manufacturers."

I am officially calling bullshit.

Not, mind you, on the part about Apples being cheaper than a Dell or a HP. This part is true. But the seeming disappearance of the Apple Tax is merely sleight of hand by Apple's premier magician, Steve Jobs. For the sake of argument, I'm going to be comparing the Apple of my eye, the $2499 quad-core Mac Pro, to a very similar homebuilt machine. Before I begin, I should give a detailed breakdown of the machine in question.

• A motherboard using Intel's 5000X chipset
• Two Intel Xeon 5030 2.66Ghz CPUs
• Two 512MB 667MHz DDR2 FB-DIMMs
• One 250GB 7200RPM 3.0GB/s SATA drive
• NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 256MB w/dual DVI
• One 16X dual-layer DVD±R/W drive
• One fuggin' huge power supply (likely 700W or above)
• Keyboard, mouse, case

First, the motherboard. So high up into the performance range, there are only a few manufacturers to choose from. Tyan, Supermicro, and Intel. I've been rather satisfied with Supermicro boards in the past, so I'm going to go with the X7DAL-E. It can be found for $385.

The CPUs won't vary much in price, so we'll just get a couple of them from Newegg for $155.49 a piece.

Memory. I'm not really interested in heatsinks, LED displays, matched pairs, or any other fancy hoohah, so I'm going to go with two 512MB sticks of good ol' Kingston Value Ram. Don't let the name fool you, this stuff has to pass all the same tests as their regular products. It just doesn't come blister-packed and shiny like the ones you find in stores. $97 each.

For the Hard Drive, it's not hard to find people who swear by a certain brand. According to some independent research (ATMOS computer support), no one drive manufacturer tends to fail more than any other. The whole thing really is a crapshoot. But if, heaven forbid, the day comes when your data goes tits-up, it may at least be comforting to have the drive still under warranty. And this is where things differ. Most manufacturers will give you a parts/labor warranty between one and three years, depending on the drive. Seagate is the only manufacturer that gives you a five year warranty. One 250GB Barracuda 7200.10, please. $69.99.

A GeForce 7300GT comes in a number of different flavors, but a dual DVI version will cost you, oh, about $80.

A DVD±RW drive shouldn't be that big of a decision. I've been very satisfied with Lite-On in the past, so I'll get one of those for $45.99. It's even black. I like black.

We've got to get a case to put all this stuff in, now don't we? We should get something versatile that doesn't skimp, offers plenty of cooling, and maybe even looks cool. Oh, and it has to come in black. Something like a Cooler Master Stacker. $281.98 shipped. (Why it costs $6 more to ship than the silver version is beyond me)

You'd think a >$200 case would come with a power supply, wouldn't you? Nope. A power supply is definetly one place you should not skimp. Every other part you buy depends on this one part to supply it clean power. Poor-quality power supplies can cause system instability or premature component failure. And having a power supply that is rated for your load is absolutely vital. Since we've got a lot of upgrade possibilities here, I'm going overkill and getting a 1000W unit, this OCZ GameXStream from Newegg. $308.01 shipped.

The Mac Pro comes with a mouse and keyboard, too, so we should equip our machine likewise. Keyboards/mice are often though of last when building a computer, but they are the devices that most direcly affect our experience with the machine. Their importance can not be understated. And very few companies have been building typing machines longer than IBM. Of course, I'm talking about the legendary IBM Model M keyboard. They can be picked up for $50 at clickykeyboards.com. Finding its companion, the 3-button USB IBM ScrollPoint mouse, proves to be a little harder, but it seems that they can be had on eBay for as little as $12.45.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, some of that $2499 is paying for OS X, so to be fair, we should add in the cost of an OS as well. This is where it gets a bit fuzzy. If I wanted to be completely fair, I could throw in a copy of OS X Tiger for $124.98. But since the legality of running that on non-Apple hardware is pretty much nonexistent, I'm going to add in a copy of the next worst thing, Windows Vista Premium OEM Chunky Bacon Ranch (OK, I made up the last three words there). $110.99.

So what's the damage? *drum roll*.

$1849.38

For those without a calculator, that's about $650 less than the Mac. It's over $1000 less than a similar $2887 Dell Precision 490. And it's over $2000 less than a similar $3932 HP xw6400. Therein lies the ruse. The Apple Tax is still there, it's just hiding in the shadow of the Dell Tax and the HP Tax.

The savings don't stop there, though. Use Linux, save $110. Already have a mouse and keyboard? That'll save $62 or so. You certainly don't need a 1000W power supply if you don't plan on adding lots of drives. A 600W unit can be had for about $200 less. That case, while pretty damned cool, can be replaced with one for half that price, easily. If you go that route, you'll wind up with a machine costing about $1337. (Full disclosure: I may have doctored those numbers to get that result. :) )

The bottom line is: You are still going to save lots of money by building a machine yourself. For me, at least, it's the better choice.

(Note: I may have made a mistake in either the calculations or approximation of the Mac Pro. If I did, please let me know.)