As to the CPU issue, it has been resolved in the case of PCs. NT will run on Merced, Unixes too, they are all converging on Intel. PowerPC will be the odd man out, Motorola cannot afford to keep its investment going at the pace Intel will set. Besides in PC and other independent labs testing, PCs at the same price point almost always outperform Macs in total system or application tasks, such as filemaker file load and display, as the MacOS still lacks modern OS file handling and other things that can take advantage of an otherwise good architecture. The MacOS is basically co-resident routines with a toolbox.
Apple publishes very misleading performance statistics.
Even with an overhauled MacOS in a couple of years, they will have been behind the curve for half a decade. I personally buy these types of machines to avoid the slap togetherness of home built PC systems. It was too late to have a clone market for the Mac. Most of my Mac user friends have several PCs by now. I think that religious faith to one platform, any platform, may not be wise, unless that platform satisfies you needs completely.