Workstation parts are expensive, yes, but they do offer capabilities that you can't get from consumer parts. If you don't need a workstation, then workstations may seem ridiculously overpriced, but if you do need a workstation, then ordinary desktops are crippled unreliable crap.

The price difference between a decked out mid-2011 iMac (with a DIY RAM upgrade) and a custom-built machine via NewEgg was ~$200 ... the difference largely being that with ordering from NewEgg I wouldn't pay sales tax. The difference with the DIY was I had a desktop video card instead of the mobile 6970M w/ 2GB of texture memory.

The other difference is I had separate speakers, webcam, more cabling, and a large physical box.

Although folks will fault the current iMac on storage expansion, don't rule out Thunderbolt. Yes, it's expensive, but being able to plug in a RAID array only loses points because the enclosure manufacturers always include disks to pad their margin. However, at least you can always plug that array into your next computer a few years down the line.

The prices are comparable if buy an iMac in the launch window. But the 2011 iMac is still being sold today. If you were buy a computer now there is a huge difference.

It's also worth considering overclocking given the stagnation in processor advances over the last generations. Getting a 40% clock increase out of a chip is like jumping ahead multiple years now -- it used to be that you could always wait a year and catch up, so why bother overclocking. But an inefficient old i7, originally 350 dollars, at 4.5ghz from 3 years ago is still faster than anything Intel is even selling today at any price.

The bigger problem is that it only supports 16GB of RAM.

In Australia, your warranty is with the entity you bought from. If they supplied you faulty parts, it is their responsibility to deal with the manufacturers. Buy everything from the one place, and the warranty is all with that one place.

You can, of course, try your direct warranty with the manufacturer, but you won't have the benefit of supplier channels. Similarly, dealing with a parts store is a bit more random than the usual "we're so big that we'll just replace the part" story you often get from Apple or Dell.

This is true, and I'm aware of this; however the store still has to deal with the manufacturer, and they aren't as bound to timeframes/timelines as the store is. Waiting 3-4+ weeks for a replacement part isn't unheard of, and although the store might have to offer you a "like" replacement, that may not be the same/compatible.

From what I understand, the law is actually pretty vague about this one. In the advice the ACCC gives to businesses, it actually puts responsibility on both the retailer and the manufacturer.

Apple has taken this and will follow the same guidelines for their products regardless of whether you purchased it from Apple or not.

The problem is as elithrar points out - 'doing something about it' doesn't necessarily mean 'replaced right now'. Responsibility for the repair may lie with the manufacturer, but the retailer sold the goods - if they're faulty, then it is the retailer's responsibility to make good on them. Just as it's the manufacturer's responsibility to make good on faults encountered by the retailer.

MSY (a super-cheap retailer) got slapped for foisting warranties back onto the manufacturer, and 'now honour warranties' (see section 2 here http://www.msy.com.au/pdf/TermsofTrade.pdf).

Not only does it make financial sense - the upgrade-ability and repairability of a custom build in unparalleled by the iMac - esp. the newer one. You would at least need the $169 AppleCare to allow for the possibility of free repairs on the iMac for 3 years. That still leaves out upgrades. Whereas for the custom build it's just a matter of yanking out the failed part and putting in a new one at cost.

We are not even factoring the resale value after a couple years, of an iMac vs a generic hackintosh.

About time - I suspect more than a handful of people will find spending a day here and there worthwhile if it saves them $400 + $169. (Also if in best case Apple keeps your iMac for 2-3 days in repair - that's time lost as well. You could do the Hackintosh repair faster yourself.)

The OS upgrades however - yeah they will be a pain. I can see that as a significant deterrent.

I can sell a $3000 iMac for $2000 two years down the track; making the upgrade "cost" $1000. It'd cost me roughly the same to buy a GTX 770 (AUD$500), a new i7 Haswell and a 128GB SSD, which are effectively the major upgrades between my 2011 iMac and the (predicted specifications) of the 2013 refresh. And then I have to hope that someone else has tested those parts before I have!

The Mac Pros are the only Macs in recent memory that I've kept in service for 5+ years, with multiple rounds of disk upgrades (boot SSD + 3TB, then 6TB, currently 12TB), and graphics card and RAM upgrades as well.

If that's important to you, you currently either need a Mac Pro or a hackintosh.

Of course, once the new trash-can Mac Pro ships, there won't be any Macs from Apple like that anymore...

Yes, it is slow compared to the newer machines, but it has lasted a hell of a long time!

You sir, win that award.

Kind of off topic, But in Australia the AppleCare is kind of a moot point as consumer protection laws mean Apple provides free repairs, replacements or refunds for something like two years.

From what I've heard it's similar in EU and China (and I believe Mexico, but I'm not sure where I've heard that from).

No, good point actually! (I was commenting on OP's speculation that a hackintosh might make more sense in the US)