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Another factor in buying a new computer is whether the motherboard will support a more powerful processor when you want to upgrade. For instance, you could put together a computer with a 1.8 GHz processor ($198.00) now, and upgrade to a 2.2 GHz ($560.00) processor later (when the price comes down) if the Motherboard supports it. I know that Gateway is offering a computer with a 2.4GHz processor now. I'm sure a 3GHz processor is just around the corner. If you decide to go with a PC, take a look at mwave.com. Ultra ATA 7200rpm drives have worked fine for me. I know that SCSI offers 10,000 and 15,000rpm, but I don't think that you will need it. There are a few PC motherboards that offer USB2.0 ports now. I don't know if anyone has released any USB2.0 audio devices yet though. However, when they are released you may wish that you had those USB2.0 ports. I am not sure about Firewire on PC motherboards. All of the PC's that I have seen with Firewire have PCI Firewire cards installed. BTW, If you are planning to use Max/MSP, the wait for a PC version might actually be over this fall. I just got an email from Cycling'74 yesterday. They said that they were planning to release the PC versions in October of 2002. Marc