Computer Do Over

is there any other choice? mac all the way. for a server, get a mac mini. once you have the system up and running, you don't need a keyboard or monitor. you can use another mac to control the mini. plus, if you have a iphone/ipod touch/or will be getting the ipad, you can control the mini thru the remote app to play itunes (i use my iphone all over the house). plus, you can use the vpn app on the iphone to actually control the mini. it allows you to have the mac screen to start any app or to control the mac to reboot if needed.

get a mini for your server, imac for you desktop.

there are a couple of things you need to think about if you are going to use this in your audio listening room (which i wouldn't do btw). dells, laptops, towers, etc... most of them have fans that can get noisy. the mac mini is quiet. how about form factor? is the dell or any other pc the size of the mini? not even close.

if you want to save $$$$, go to craigslist and search for a used mac mini. you don't need an intel mac mini. as a server, you can run leopard or tiger even on a 1.42ghz mini with no problem. i have seen these for $200.

if you want to upgrade your mac to use amarra, then you might want to buy a intel processor based mini.
i would then buy an ipod touch/iphone/ipad to control the mini for your audio/video needs. i have used a touch and currently use an iphone, but in a couple of weeks, i'll be using the ipad to vpn or remote control the server.

for a few more $$$$, then get another mac mini or an imac for a personal desktop machine.

i would not use and i don't use a computer in my audio room for a lot of reasons: can be noisy, will have multiple drives or a nas setup, might need a keyboard/mouse/screen, etc...

if you put this server in a den or even in a utility room, you won't care if there is noise or not. as long as you can get to the machine from your iphone/touch/ipad, and you route the signal over a wired connection or wireless, the data will be transferred without any degradation from these locations.

gmood1 - if you are going to compare machines, you need to compare all of the machine, not just the cases. the pc's you listed are baby machines: small ram, slow processors, and i didn't see any cd/dvd drives included. compare that to the mini that has firewire, superdrive, 4gb ram, toslink, usb, etc...
sure a mac costs more, but you also get much more. as for a tower over a mini: why? what can a tower do that a mini can't in the world of music server? i don't want my hard drives in the machine, i want them separate from the box. if you want a tower, get a mac pro with 2 g5 processors, huge power supply, and you can get them used for $500-$600 on craigslist.

audioguru1 - how can you say that a pc is better than a mac for audio? if all you do is use the mac to read data off the hard drive and you let an external jitter device and dac handle all of the conversion, it is a bold statement saying a pc is better. i had a guy at rmaf tell me that a certain hard drive sounded better than other hard drives. This guy was full of S*&^. you also hear people say that ssd sound better than hdd. Again, this is also BS! i have seen many "custom" pc machines at ces and RMAF that were many thousands of $$$, but the best music server (pc/mac based) that i have heard was using a mac with the amarra software.

gmood1 - i think a mac mini would be a good media server, not just a music server. like i said earlier, i don't want my computer in the same room as my audio or video. so in this case, i am not going to go out of the mac/pc straight into a preamp/processor or tv/projector. why you only need a mac mini, for example: i can use itunes for video and audio. in my house, i can stream music and video to multiple locations and each can have a different source. i do this by using airport express devices and apple tv's. i use the mac mini as a true server: it holds my music/video repository and streams the bits over the network to any location i want.
also, you say the mac mini isn't any good in the media server area. if all i want to do is stream data from a server, stuff i have ripped or downloaded, there is no difference.
for any server, you want to use external drives or preferable a NAS unit. again, the mac/pc can be anything. memory could be an issue if you are streaming to 12 locations probably, but i have streamed to 4 with different sources over wireless and GigE with no issues at all.
macs might be a little more expensive but you get what you pay for.

if your files are on another mac, just link to the mac, present the hd on the imac, and start copying. to start this, go to GO, then Connect to Server from the menu bar. type in your ip addr of the mac you want to attach. if you don't know it, then go to the remote mac under the apple and click "about this mac". then click "more info", then click network. use the ipv4 address associated with your ethernet connection. then you will either get prompted for which hard drive you want to link to or if there is only 1, it will show up on your imac. open it up, and start copying things to your new imac.