Many thanks for your advice. I'll look into it, its a shame that there isn't as much hardware available and choice for a Mac, plus they tend to cost much more. If anyone can direct me to a good reseller for mac graphics cards that would suite my requirements it'll be much appreciated.
Thanks again.
This is a whole 'nother conversation that has been discussed almost to death, so it doesn't make much sense to dive into it in-depth.
First off, there are TONS of choices for Mac. Any kind of external peripheral that is a mass storage devices (Firewire and USB hard drives) work both on Mac and Windows PCs (as well as Linux!). In terms of graphics cards, yes, selection is limited -- but that's just about where it ends. Hard drives, a lot of PCI cards, monitors, RAM, bluetooth dongles, wireless devices, etc. all work with Mac flawlessly, out-of-the-box. It's always best to do some research and ask around before purchasing something for a Mac (just like you would do if purchasing something for a PC), but I think you'd be surprised at how much stuff is compatible with Mac.
As for the "Macs are expensive" argument, sure: Apple does not produce inexpensive machines... but the machines that they DO sell are no more expensive than a similarly-equipped PC. It's just that while Dell, hp, Acer, Asus and other companies produce bargain-basement computers as well as mid- to high-end computers, Apple only produces the mid- to high-end computers. Configure a Dell with all the specs and hardware of a Mac Pro and you're looking at spending about the same amount (sometimes even more on the PC side).
Can you build a PC cheaper than a Mac? Sure! Will it be apples-to-apples, feature-for-feature the same? Nope.
You can't build a Mac at all. If a person is the type that likes to have control over each component that goes into a computer, then a Mac is not for them.
But I digress... at any rate,
http://www.owcomputing.com used to carry video cards (PCI, AGP, PCI-X, PCIe, etc.) for many models of Mac. If you can't find one on their website, a phone call will usually work out.
You can also check out some of the "Deals" links on
http://www.lowendmac.com for used Macs and used Mac parts.
Be wary of eBay and Craigslist -- a lot of people like to pass off "flashed" PC-specific cards as "Mac-compatible." I would recommend against these types of cards as results can be unpredictable. I think it best to get a genuinely native Mac graphics card, and yes, Mac-specific graphics cards are more expensive than their PC counterparts -- that's the "more expensive" part that is 100% true.
