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I hate the Mac vs. Windows debate (I use both daily) but audio is very different than word processing or sending email, so I'll throw out a few thoughts. In our audio lab we run Gateway PCs with Sound Forge and Wavelab and DAL sound cards. I went PC because our library is 99% Windows and UNIX and the IT people "can't support Macs." Unfortunately, they can't really support Windows audio workstations either, since they don't know anything about sound cards, audio drivers and the specific software we use and the potential for conflicts that arise. Maybe DAL just writes really buggy audio drivers (can anybody confirm this?), or maybe Windows doesn't handle audio drivers well (I don't need confirmation on this) but in my experience there are lots of software/hardware/driver incompatibilities in the PC world. Just try installing Realplayer (a legally distributed virus if there ever was one) on a PC and see how quickly it can make everything else stop working. So either way, you'll likely be on your own to some extent, and if you are on your own, I'd go Mac. Surprisingly, I've never used Macs for audio, but I use them for everything else and there is no way that it can be worse than doing audio on a PC. And once you get your system up and running, never let the IT guys touch it. No service packs, no critical updates, no new versions of the audio software, no driver updates. In our experience, each upgrade will cost you a minimum of two days in getting the thing stable again. As for the cost issue, on high-end machines the cost differences are trivial and it's moot anyway when compared to the cost of a couple people sitting around the studio for an afternoon uninstalling and reinstalling drivers. David Seubert UCSB