My first build was pretty easy... as long as you know where the parts are, with the magic of the Internet, and the manual for your mobo, it should be plug-everything-in-and-turn-it-on-and-hope-it-POSTs easy, assuming nothing's DOA.
The thing about macs is that Apple's OS is so much better than Vista and XP. It's not so much that the mac can do MORE things than the PC, it's that the mac can do them BETTER. It is generally more user friendly, and if I did not want to play games on my computer, I'd have probably gotten a mac.
Only problem with macs is that they are so much more expensive (barring the macbook, which I think is a pretty good value) for the parts.
For the record though, I think the iPhone and the iPod Touch are POS tech and the iBook Air will probably fall under that category too.
CoD 4 will probably run flawlessly. STALKER will probably run well, and the others are probably going to suffer a bit in graphics in order to run well.
BTW Crysis will probably run fine at the lower graphical settings.
I would go with an Intel E6750 processor (they're cheap and offer great performance), an 8800 GT (if you can find one) or an 8800 GTS 512 (if you cannot), an nForce 680i mobo (there are several ranging from cheap to expensive), and cost-effective peripheral parts (there's too much variation to recommend with any definity). For the video card, I'd go with EVGA so you can step it up for a 9 series card, should one come out within the next 90 days. With that, you'll have a fairly powerful-for-the-money gaming rig.
Nothing is official, but talk among reliable sources say that the first of nVidia's 9 series cards will be out around Febuary 14. Wait until then, and at the very least you'll know the absolute release date of the 9 series cards (even if the card isn't out then the date will be). If it looks like a good upgrade, step it up when the new cards come out. If not, step it up to an 8800GTS 512 or an 8800GTX, depending on what you want.
It's a fine monitor, and it's pretty cheap, but 1440 x 900 resolution may cause some weird issues. I'd go with a 16 by 9 monitor, but, you'd probably do fine with that one.
I think the general consensus among professionals is that the 8800ultra is a slim upgrade, if at all, over the 8800gtx. As such, there's probably a slim upgrade, if at all, in performance with the 8800ultra.
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