Are mac's and workstations equal to cheaper pc's with better specs?

[everywhere]

I'm looking to buy a desktop for CS general, mainly PS and After Effects, plus a little VJ software, audio sequencers, and 3D animating here and there. I like lots of layers and effects in AE. I'm not a professional but I hope to be someday as I'm graduating soon. I'm noticing there are $1000+ workstation desktops that have similar or worse RAM and CPU than under-$1000 desktops that are aimed at gamers or general power users. Then there are mac's which cost much more for similar specs, but I'm considering a 21.5" iMac if it's really worth it for creative media.

This is basically what I'm talking about. Cheaper desktops have better specs than the more expensive iMac and workstation desktop.

I'm assuming there's quality increases with these iMac's and workstations, but is it worth it? Are the way these things are built going to make them perform better than the cheaper ones, for my needs? I've come to believe that I need at least a certain amount of RAM and processing power for video editing and such but I don't have $2000+ to buy an iMac or workstation with those parts, so if I get a "better quality" machine with lesser parts is that generally sufficient?


All advice appreciated, thanks.

[orsetto]

See the responses in your other thread. The same comments apply to this similar question, even more so. There is no such thing as a "Mac Work station," anyway (aside from the obsolete, insanely overpriced Mac Pro towers which no one in their right mind buys anymore, not even Mac "power users").

[jman98]

I agree with Orsetto that I think we pretty much told you what you need to know in the other thread. I've got an iMac, as I said in that thread, and it's about 5 years old now. It STILL works but I did have to replace the hard drive over a year ago. Let me tell you that that was a real bitch. But while it's great that the iMac still works after 5 years, it's out of date and with no way to upgrade so I can't use it for any serious computing work like encoding videos unless I'm OK with it taking a relatively long time. It's OK for use to surf the internet though.

We had a saying in IT years ago about IBM but it applies maybe better to Apple now - You may find better elsewhere, but you'll NEVER pay more.

I actually work with a guy who is a hard core Mac fanboy and he did buy a Mac Pro tower, but orsetto makes a great point about whether he's in his "right mind" or not. If you can't afford an iMac you sure can't afford a Mac Pro.

[everywhere]

Yeah thanks guys my question is answered, it's a windows for me. Thank you I appreciate it.