Unless you want to use applications that are native to the mac like photoshop, I'd go with a PC solution as that will get you better overall performance. I could say that apple hardware is underpowered garbage, but I'd be lying. For the most part, users don't really need all that much computational power. More than an 800mhz p3 is wasted on the vast majority of american consumers who "only need to check their email"
OSX isn't really an argument pro mac either because you can put bsd on either machine which is what osx is...kind of. I'm a big PC fan myself.
I'd look at it this way, for about 1k less(no 1gb RAM option), I can get a similarly configured system from alienware with alienware's superb support and spend the rest on applications and accessories. If you have 3k+ to spend. I'd also consider my needs. Would you really be better suited to lugging all your computing power on your shoulder?
My suggestion is to sit down evaluate what you want/need and then find the best solution to fill out all that.
Example:
For that much money, I can get a very good desktop system, a low end notebook for general computing outside home, a pda for portable computing/organization, AND accessories to match including usb hard drives, networking equipment, fuzzy dice, and I know that at least one machine is upgradeable in case something should come up that I need like usb 3.x or I win a SATA drive in a battle against the forces of evil.
Also don't forget, Mac Applications cost an order of magnitude more than pc apps for some reason with the exceptions of professional suites like photoshop and indesign.
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