Yup - my rule of thumb is, $300/year is reasonable (but I require higher end systems for Photoshop and whatnot). You should get 3 years of useful life out of a good system, and maybe a couple more years of basic functionality out of it (web surfing, word processing).

My last computer is now out in my garage acting as a jukebox, to stream my iTunes music library out to the garage (where my treadmill is).

Holy smokexs. I shouldn't read the forums after hitting th eville. I mean, we hit the bottle hard tongith. I raeddul ... dual booty .. no t buda ...erm, dual boot vs XP. I was gonna eyall T...ermm, yeal...erm, yeah DUAL BOOOTAY!! FTQ...erm FTW!! But, no don't listen to me I am an idiot.

If you already Got Vista, just stick through the tough times and keep it.
Me, there are many things I don't like about Vista, so I don't plan on going to it.

Things I don't like about Vista:
1) The License (Its more the 2x as restrictive as XP)
2) The Excessive amount of DRM embedded in it.
3) It is Made by Microsoft and I am boycotting them at the Moment.
4) Most of the Shiny/Pretty features in Vista are clones of what is in MacOS X 10.4 tiger.
5) The fact the MS lied about their new security system in Vista, its a clone of what has been in Unix since the 1970s, and a piss poor clone at that.

It sounds to me like the biggest reason you aren't going to Vista is that you already use a Mac! (And in that case, only a fool would switch from a Mac to Vista!)

Don't read my support of Vista incorrectly; I have a MacBook Pro for a laptop and much prefer OS X over MS Windows. However, if I must use a PC, I do like Vista over XP.

LOL I have a MacBook Pro for my laptop also.

I got it setup with Bootcamp/XP so I can play UO on the road.

Basically when XP goes, i am giving up PC gaming. I wont move to vista, and at that point unless its a mac game I just wont play it. WoW is available on Mac, and with the New KR client, I don't see any reason they couldnt have UO on Mac sometime next year.