Purchasing a Mac Pro while visiting the USA

Question

Well I am up for a a new Mac, my aging (but not out) G4 MDD (Dual 867) is struggling with latest app releases, especially iDVD, iMovie and iPhoto with no chance of using the latest release pro apps. Aperture looks like a very good upgrade from iPhoto, and I am eager to get a machine that can handle FSP and get off iMovie.
And the wife has agreed, only because I am visiting Florida in Feb.
The premium for Macs in Dubai is too much for the 2 Ghz its $690 and the 3 Ghz its $1000 over the USA price. So we thought that with the savings I could get a better video card and wireless options. Memory over here is a cheap as anywhere.
I know the 3 GHz model gives the greatest savings but all three models share the same bus speed and memory, it looks like only the CPU is different. There is a good possibility of upgrading in the future with off-the-shelf Intel CPUs, and I have seen the report on testing quad core Intel CPUs, not sure if it is real and not a hoax but that gives hope for upgrades in the future.
The question is
Can I walk into an Apple store and ask for a non-standard config?
I would want to add the BT and Wi-Fi options and a better video card.
Customs in Dubai is not a problem, a maximum on 5% if I am unlucky. And at only 19kg it still leaves me with 17kg for clothes and stuff for the week.

Answer 1

Good point about warranty.
What normally happens over here is warranty is view as useless. The retail industry sells and sells and is not that concerned with warranty at all. Yes you can take faulty hardware in for repair but if you are not a company then you get the run-around and they will keep your hardware for weeks, they will say they are waiting for the manufacture to reply but experience tells me nothing is happening.
Example: I purchased two 250gig hard disks for my RAID, within three months one failed so I went back to the store. They had stock but refused to replace the hard disk, they insisted on sending my faulty hard disk back to Maxtor. They did not want to take existing stock because that's for new customer who will pay. After three weeks with no progress I had to threaten them with legal action before they did anything.
In the west most retailers would have confirmed date of purchase, photocopied it and replace the hard disk while I was in the store if they had stock. They would then claim back through the manufacture or distributor.
I have had my G4 for four years with no faults, I hope that reliability you also continue with the new MacPro. Otherwise I would fix it myself and not rely on warranty.
Apple does have a master distributor in the UAE so I can approach them, saying that I recently moved to Dubai from England but need my MacPro fixing under warranty. One thing in my favor is 80% of the population here in expatriate.