What do you need all that ram for? Keep in mind OS X is freeBSD with a modfied Xserver and propreitary API which requires huge resources to run vs simpler,faster, lighter GUI's available for open source software.Equating amounts of RAM doesnt mean much, windows is a pretty resource hungry OS.Some GUI's for linux like KDE for example are quite resource hungry too.I think if you were a little more experienced and had actually sat down and run OS X,windows, and a linux and compared numbers and performance you'd definitley understand what Im getting at here.OS X for example, a majority of its users dont have a clue how much power is available if they'd take the time to do a little digging and learning and then make use of it.These days it seems to me knowing what your doing is much more important than having ultra fast hardware, ultra fast hardware doesnt make up for lack of user knowledge.Bang for the buck involves more than just hardware and OS choices, you have to know how to take advantage of it.