Pro Tools HD setups can certainly get pretty expensive. It sounds like you already have a PC but are considering buying a mac. Nothing wrong with that if you can afford it and if you were to want to use Mac specific software. However, there are some options that really haven't been mentioned here yet. First, there are many HD setups out there that run just fine on a PC right now. Some would even say better, but I don't really want to start that debate here.
What I was thinking is that maybe you should see how close your PC is to the Digidesign specs. If you can make your PC work with just minimal investments, that would save you probably $2500 to start with if you are going the Pro Tools HD route. If down the road you decide you need the MAc, then you get it and you are no worse off. By starting with the PC, you just run the risk of not having to spend a bunch of money. The worst case scenario there is that you spend what you had initially planned
Also, with HD you no longer have to buy only Digidesign hardware. You can now buy the Apogee X series and add the X-HD cards and they will communicate directly wioth your
HD core cards. The Apogee boxes are about the same price as the Digidesgin boxes, but then you have to add the HD card to them so in the end they end up costing about $400 more, but then you have a nice Apogee front end
I have seen HD-1 packages used for as low as about $3000 for just the card, and $4500 with at least one Digidesign box. This means that you could get into an 8 in 8 out HD system for about $6500, and the Apogee would still be fully warrantied. Add another $3500 to that and you could have 24 channels of Apogee inputs, and and 8 channels of Apogee outputs by buying an HD-1 (used) and a Rosetta 800x with an HD card, and
an AD16x with an HD card. I know it sounds expensive, but for an HD system with that kind of power, $10k is a pretty low price. Thats about $3200 less than the suggestion above (which was not a bad suggestion, but many people aren't aware of how the Apogee HD cards work yet) to get more (and in my opinion better) I/O. That does also mean buying your HD card used though. In any case, the new Digidesing hardware is actually pretty nice, but I would still prefer the Apogee route.
Now, another option would be to go with LE. You could start with a 002R for about $1200, add an Apogee 800x and your whole investment there would be about $4200. After a while you could then make the decision to move up to HD. By then, used prices will be even lower on HD cards. This way you would have a smaller startup investment, still have the Apogee, and be able to take more time to see if you really need HD or not. Also, you could take the 002 and your Apogee out for remote recordings with a laptop or something and not have to worry about toting your whole HD rig around if you do decide to move up to HD.
There really are a lot of options even just within the Pro Tools world. At least a lot more options than there were 5 years ago. Personally, the only reason I am considering adding an HD rig to my own setup is because of how many clients ask if I have Pro Tools. The sad thing is that most of them don't even know that Pro Tools is actually a specific piece of software. Many of them think that Pro Tools is the term for all DAW type setups. In the end though, the cost of an HD rig might even out with being able to advertise it. However, other apps like Cubase/Nuendo and Digital Performer are becoming more and more accepted every day, and the names are becoming more recognized.
