Mac Pro Vs Monster Windows machine: HELP Extremely knowledgeable only!

I really need opinions from the very in-the-know.
I switched from Windows a year ago and would rather eat dirty diapers than switch back. But I had built a pretty fast machine for my lady. I bought us 2 iMac 24" 3.06 machines with 4 gigs of ram. They were supposed to replace our Microsoft pieces of crap.
Now I know, and I explained to her, that they would never be as fast as her Quad Core Windows Machine. I thought the reliability, interface, and small desktop footprint would win her over.
Not.
I have screwed around with the Mac pro's at MacMall and the Apple store. I still do not see for example, Word or Photoshop open as snappy and fast as the Windows machine. NO ONE can explain this to me. I simply do not get it. I have seen bench tests against the two in similar builds and the Mac always wins. What is the deal? I went to Macmall's premium, grand poo bah MacPro; CS4 and Word definitely do not open as fast as her Xp Pro at home. I am baffled.
I do not relish blowing another $4,000 on a Pro machine, to get it home and have her comparing the two side by side and seeing that the Windows machine is faster. At the time, I spent $3,500 just in parts to build her the Windows machine.
It has three Raptor 10,000rpm drives, at the time, a $600 512gb video card, 4 gigs of Partiot PC2-8500 memory, and a Quad core Q6600 2.4 Intel, in a 2 board (running off 1) Thermaltake case with 12 fans.
Can someone tell me the reality here? I have a theory that Macs are made to look smooth when opening apps, and so sacrifice speed. Please don't preach about reliability... that it "doesn't matter" if word opens .00003 seconds faster on a Windows machine, etc. because Mas are superior. I am the converted, and she doesn't care. Her ***** is that side by side, Explorer, Word, Excel, etc opens lightening fast, blink of the eye. That's what ticks her bubble. If I can get a Mac to do that, I'll have won the fight.
Help!

First off, $3500 for a self built PC is nuts, imo. Seriously, that's one expensive pc rig.
Second, are the 3 raptors in a raid 0? A 10,000 rpm drive alone will give a better snap to things than the stock imac hard drive.
Also XP is a very light OS (nowadays) when you compare it to the hardware, especially with a q6600 and maxing out the 3 gig ram for XP. With a decent setup, XP screams, especially with office apps.
There are probably a lot of different factors, that is affecting the performance that you want to see. However, to keep it short, if you want to girlfriend to be content just throw in a SSD and be done with it.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/imacSSD_drive_upgrade/iMac_SSD_Driveupgrade.html
30GB is at a very good price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227393
OR the 120GB, but more pricey
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227450
OR the good ol X25-M at 80GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167005
If SSDs are too expensive, then just partition the stock drive. And consolidate your apps on the faster partition. Fresh install Leopard; and run disk warrior regularly. Tips learned from hatter, they work

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