Lugano,
Hmm, you know that's a very interesting way to put it. It has been a while since I have messed much with Mac's, so I guess that by now it is possible to have a bit more freedom hardware wise, but only once you have some level of base Apple hardware.
I have nothing against Apple, I just have not had any real exposure to them for quite some time now, and am very behind on their features and use. I am sure that it has a wonderful OS, especially now that it is unix based. It would seem that Apple has been wise by keeping their hardware close to the vest for the very reason you described, only one partner, so if something goes wrong, you know whose fault it is. This is one way to do it and seems to work well for them, keeping them quite exclusive. There are other ways of doing it too, and that is the way Microsoft and the countless clones of the original IBM hardware have done it. It all depends on what you want. It is not up to me to say that one is better than the other.
However quite to the contrary of what you said, I do not simply toss a few things together, and then concentrate on the usage only. I have spent countless hours and
way too much cash "frankensteining" my machine together, as you aptly put it
. I humbly admit that the software CAN sometimes be a pain, (read Microsoft) but thankfully has not been as bad as one may expect.
The main issue I guess is that once you do that, YOU are your own support at that point, as you cannot necessarily call the mothership when (not if) you have problems. But then again, if you feel comfortable enough being your own support, then I don't see why not. Personally, I know google well enough to find drivers or help forums when needed, and have gotten quite creative at times when need be. I like my machines, and am proud of them, perhaps not as much as my ML's, but I am proud of what I have accomplished and managed to keep running for so long with as little trouble as I have had.
Indeed it can take some time to research to make sure that the hardware that I buy will all be compatible with each other, and that the software I will be using will all be compatible with the hardware too, but to me it is a challenge, one that I rather enjoy. That is actually how I earned my nickname, Captain Tinker.
There is a good reason for it. I am constantly tinkering with it, tweaking it, and updating it, and having fun with it. It is another of my deeply enjoyable hobbies, just ask my long suffering spouse.
As for tweaking the ML's, I just haven't gotten there yet. At least not to the point where I feel comfortable opening them up to mess with crossovers etc. I am still in my infant stages in this hobby, and am still learning the basics. I will get there with time and experience as I feel I have with my computing mania.
-capT