Newbie to Macs~ Not to computers

[Logan]

So, I've been meaning to get a Mac for quite a while now. Financials were always my biggest concern. I always have enjoyed OSX, and though my experience with it is next to nothing, it has a X-windows feel (Heck, it may even be a breed of X windwos, I don't know!) and I enjoy it.

So here's my question.

iMac's are pretty good, they're roughly 1200 bucks for the new dual core systems on the Mac home page, but honestly I want a more custom system.
I don't particularly want or need the accessories, I already have plenty of monitors at my house... also the keyboard/mice I'm not too concerned about.

The part that concerns me is hardware. I would ideally like to go with a RAID level-1 type hard drive system (probably two 80 gig Seagate SATA 7200rpm barracudas) so I can mirror them and use the iMac as a trusted business machine. A nice Radeon X-series (PCI express) Vid card is always a bonus, for gaming, and just showing off how good a Mac can be.

The thing about macs is, nobody around me really uses it... nor does anyone know about it. The Macintosh site is pretty vague on their selections

if anyone can give me advice on where to get a "custom" built (or just a barebone) system for a Mac please let me know...

Also if you know any problems with the 'newer' dual core system and a RAID setup with seagate please let me know...

And also, if you think spending 1200ish bucks (well , max, that's how much they said with the 17 inch LCD and a few other parts I don't want) is too much to spend on a mac when you're still learning it... Let me know.


Thanks for your time, and I'm off to work!

-Logan

lastly.. what are people's thoughts about miniMacs? I may just get one of those if the iMac dual HDD setup isn't practical.

Oh and about HDD space, I have a 500 gig on the system i'm using right now, but it's intel and I'm keeping WinXP on it. With this mac I'll have:

Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, WinXP, Win98, and Mac OSX all in my room on varied computers.

 

[jhelm007]

Unfortunately, there is no room in an imac case for a second drive. You could use a firewire(400) raid or you could get a used or refurbished Powermac G4 and set that up with an internal RAID. Obviously that would be older non-intel hardware however. Two good sites for custom mac set ups are www.xlr8yourmac.com www.applefritter.com. For info on the used mac market I recomend www.lowendmac.com www.everymac.com and ebay.

 

[mraya]

Some time ago i considered the possibility of built my self a Mac, i still think is possible and easy, but i don't think is worthy, the total price of the (old) parts easily passes the price of a new Mac, at least if you are starting from scratch. My advice, check MacMod (www.macmod.com), they have a lot of resources and information for/about hardware.
jhelm007 option, buying an old PowerMac G4, is a good idea but you must consider the performance of an old G4 vs the new Intel models, once again is the money problem as you may want to use Tiger and those old machines probably have an older version of OSX.
The minis are, IMHO, good starter machines or good media centers. Again, take a look at MacMod, some guys there have upgraded single core versions to dual core processors and also managed to put a better HD on them, which improves the performance a lot.