Re: I guess it's So Long and Thanks for all the Fish!

[Dominic Deacon] "I'm not really a computer person- I'm a screenwriter primarily- and don't really grasp the difference between a "professional PC workstation" and what I've purchased."

Of course what you've purchased may be entirely adequate for you needs. One doesn't have to have a workstation. There are many things that make a workstation better suited for certain demanding situations ranging from ease of maintenance, component compatibility testing, power supply to support expansion, number of PCIe slots and lanes. It's possible that your system is perfectly adequate. The painful part would be finding out that it falls down in some specific workflow and you can't easily expand. For example, Blackmagic cards are tested compatible only with certain motherboards... but that may not be important if you're not using those cards for example.

[Dominic Deacon] "It might have been a good idea to wait and see what Apple has coming but that wasn't an option for me."

As is the case for others as well. Apple has a big void until FCPX and MacPros are updated. Some people can't wait and can't get buy using FCP7 which requires workflows that one wouldn't need with Premiere on an computer with CUDA supported GPU.

[Dominic Deacon] " I'm going to be editing a feature for the next 8 months or so and didn't want to go through that again with FCP 7 and an old iMac. Buying a new iMac at this moment felt like a serious gamble."

Eight months is a long time. As per the Keycode Media conference video, many facilities aren't making their purchasing decisions until November and Educational Institutions until next spring. Personally I wouldn't make a purchase now for a project starting in eight months. Of course one may want to go through a learning curve but both Avid and Premiere work on Mac and as you get closer to the date, you can jump based on the then available technologies. In eight months, Intel may have new CPUs out so even Windows computers may be better/faster than the current crop. Hardware gets dated so quickly that generally I'd recommend waiting until you hit the "must move" wall to make a hardware purchase.

It's quite possible that you'll get the ROI on your purchase within 8 months though, given what you paid, and then you can move again as needed.