New computer needed soon, need some input please

I'm reposting this from the Lounge...

Our 3+ year old Dell desktop seems to be on its last legs. Various computer people my wife & I know seem to think it may be a problem with the motherboard or the hard drive itself. (I did buy an external HD and saved all our important files to it, too) The monitor we have is from my previous PC, so is probably about 7 years old, so we'd like to get a nice flat screen monitor, too.

I would prefer not to buy a Dell again due to them being the reddest of red companies. However, just for ha-has, I went to their website and came up with a price of around $1,500 for what we wanted. I think that may have included an all-in-one printer/copier/fax.

I know MACs are supposed to last longer than PCs, but won't a MAC bought today be way outdated in 5-6 years? Are they easily upgradable? (As an FYI, I managed to open up my Dell last year & install an ethernet card... but, anything more complex than that is something I'd probably have to get done by a pro.)

Things we would need the PC for:
1) Browsing the internet & email. We have SBC Yahoo DSL now.
2) Editing video DVDs (we have a DVD camcorder)
3) Using Excel & Word (& possibly PowerPoint)
4) Editing pictures, like JPGs
5) Watching DVDs (my wife has a bunch of old TV programs from China on DVD (or maybe VCD?) that she says are best playable on a computer...)
6) some limited game playing, meaning we need something that can run CDs in addition to DVDs.

are Lexmarks in disguise with a proprietary ink cartridge only available from Dell. Here in Austin that same amount of PC is usually available for around $1000 if you shop around. check out tigerdirect.com, egghead.com or outpost.com for some comparable prices.

Things we would need the PC for:
1) Browsing the internet & email. We have SBC Yahoo DSL now.

No problem on a Mac. Very easy to configure.

2) Editing video DVDs (we have a DVD camcorder)

You will love iDVD. iMovie is very good.

3) Using Excel & Word (& possibly PowerPoint)

Macs do Office and NeoOfficej (Java port of Open Office) Try Keynote2, it is part of the iLife suite. I have heard some good things about it compared to Power Point.

4) Editing pictures, like JPGs

Macs are loved in the graphics community.

5) Watching DVDs (my wife has a bunch of old TV programs from China on DVD (or maybe VCD?) that she says are best playable on a computer...)

I watch DVD's on my Mac.

6) some limited game playing, meaning we need something that can run CDs in addition to DVDs.

Macs come with, at the least, a combo DVD/CD drive. Spring for the SuperDrive.

Games are the weakest category, but they do have a healthy line up of games. I'd rather game on a PS2. The G5 has plenty power to handle the games. As the market share rises, the number of games will increase.

Get more RAM 512 is the minimum.

The new iMac G5 is the perfect family computer. There is nothing you can do on a PC that can't be done on a Mac. With additional memory and the SuperDrive you should be set for a good many years, And OS X rocks. They really are worth it.

Take it from a Linux geek -- get a Mac.

rest on my laurels.

to cut down on the number of "support" calls I get from friends and family.

so I am not asked to search google for them to find the possible causes.