I never considered mac laptops to be cheaper, Where do you live?
My example would be a Dell 9200, 17in widescreen
-1.6Ghz Pentium M
-512mb RAM
-128mb Radeon 9700 Mobility
-8x Burner
-100gb HD
-80WHr 9-Cell battery
-802.11b/g wireless built int
$1,571, or if you use a coupon code, like 8WQ59398KXR61$, you can get it for $1,071.
Compare that to a Powerbook G4, 17in widescreen
-1.67Ghz G4
-512mb RAM
-128mb Radeon 9700 Mobility
-Super Drive
-100gb HD
-Airport Extreme
$2,700, or if you are a student $2,400
Granted the PB has some features that you can't really quantify, OS X, Backlit keyboard, HD shock protection, aluminum case, and others.