Actually the two boxes seem pretty similar anymore, but maybe those Mac vs Vista spots have me spooked.

Any insights?

tia,

LaRue

Performance wise, it really is what you are most comfortable with. The one thing I don't know about is how well they've ironed out the bugs on Unity and Macs yet. From the beta reports I've seen I'd guess pretty well but someone with a Unity would have to say for sure.

Having said that though, Vista is still Vista. Driver problems and compatible software are still issues.

 Thanks BLKDOG,

Nobody else wants to weigh in?

BLKDOG covered it.

Down to personal preference of OS. If XP was considered being dropped from support Mac would start to look more like the favoured option here.

I've been told that there will be a little better performance on the HP because they ship with "professional" quality graphics cards.  Apple ships with "gammer" cards.  Since Avid only tests what those vendors ship, adding a "pro" card to the Mac will not be tested or supported.

other than that, personal preference on the OS.