[Desmond Ford] "I think this year will really reveal if Apple intends to stay with the professional market or not."
There's been a lot of discussion about this on Creative Cow.
Walt Biscardi wrote a great article about the shakeup since FCP X you may find interesting. Personally, I think since Apple is finding such success with their iDevices, they no longer see the need to pay much attention to the pro market.
But anyway, about a PC: Consult the Black Magic Configuration Guide
here for ideas. Personally, at home my PC currently has 16GB RAM, two Nvidia GTX 580s, Intel Core i7 870 overclocked to 3.2GHz, and Black Magic Intensity Pro for monitoring and it is just fantastic with Resolve Lite and Avid Media Composer 6.
