Thinking about getting dual G5, help

[ArcticFox]

I currently work on the following system:
AthlonXP 3200+
1GB RAM
Three HD's (80GB + 80GB + 74GB 10krpm)
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
etc etc

But my HS graduation is approaching quickly and I'm getting "some money" that was originally going towards a laptop. After realizing all the laptops I could afford weren't very good or made too many compromises, I looked at building another PC with all the latest goodies.

To make a long story short, that idea has kind of been scrapped and I'm thinking I want to try my hand at getting something like:

Dual 2Ghz G5
1GB RAM or more
9600 Pro
250GB HD
CDRW/DVD combo drive

Now, this would be a big change for me since the last kind of Mac I owned was a Quadra 950 with three hard drives....I still remember how cool it was to have 800MB of space, it was almost 1GB! Now my PC's swap file takes up 1.5GB by itself. :)

I've got a couple questions before I make up my mind (and Undertaker, I just need to make sure since TIMO wasn't much help).

1) If I buy the 160GB drive and then buy another HD, can I install it myself in the system?
2) If I buy a new SATA Plextor DVD burner, can I install that too?
3) How well do PC keyboards work on Macs?
4) I can use my analog (read: no DVI port) 17" LCD on the Mac with a DVI-to-VGA adapter right?
5) Where's a good place to find software for Mac?

That's it for now, if I think of anything else I'll be sure to post, but I want an Apple-centric opinion since alot has changed since I last looked at Macs. I'm actually writing this on an eMac, but it's pokey and not really my thing, the school gives us crappy computers like the old teal iMacs and then trys to get OS X to run on them...not a good combo.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

You might as well just get the DVD-DL drive.

You mentioned you're graduating high school. Are you going to college? If so, you can get educational discounts from Apple on their hardware and software.

1) Yes, you can install a 2nd SATA hard drive.
2) IIRC, no. Only the hard drives are on SATA, the optical drive is on an ATA/133 buss.
3) They work OK, but some buttons will act differently. OS X offers a way to swap CTRL/ALT key mappings in System Preferences. Oh yeah, the keyboard must be USB. There's no PS2 ports on Macs.
4) Yes.
5) Depends on whether or not you're going to college. If you are, then you'll want to check out places like academicsuperstore.com www.sharbor.com or journeyed.com. If you're not, then you'll just need to shop around (try www.froogle.com ) to find the best price.

[ArcticFox]

Thanks for the clarification.

As for the educational discount, I'm lucky to have a mother who works in a middle school so I get a bunch off like you said, which is nice because I might not be able to afford it without that discount.

[ArcticFox]

I also ordered a Dell Ultrasharp 19" LCD w/DVI, that's going to work fine with the Mac right? It better...

Only paid like $270 for it also.