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The people here who complaint about the mac and your theory, never had a mac for sure.
I buy a powermac G5 4 years ago around 2500$, and I just sell it for 1600$.
4 YEARS AGO, imagine, this machine cost me 900$ for 4 year of fun. Also when I put it beside my desk in Novembre 2003, this machine never move from there until now. No problem at all, never open it.
If you want to know the value of a used mac, you can go see this site
http://www.mac2sell.net/
What about a 4 years used PC ?