Your PC will out perform my Mac in almost everyway except for the things Mac's are designed to do. My Mac is my work computer and my PC is for all my other crap, so when it comes down to it, it really depends on what your using it for. Different strokes for different folks...thats the last im going to say about this, so dont even get me started again.
As for networking them, its fairly simple and could quite possibly work, give it a go.
I cant backup dvd:dvd, coz my dvd burner is a dvd-ram
spewin'