Need expert mac buying advice from an expert

[superdood]

Hi, I know this has been discussed in some other threads, but they were a little old and I want the best, current advice I can get. My budget is about $2,500. My application is a home project studio and I'll probably never go higher than 48 tracks with one maybe two farm cards and sample cell. I'll need at least one removeable drive as I want to be able to take my tracks to a real studio for pro mixing/mastering. Specifically, what Mac, video card, scsi card, hard drives, os etc would you recommend for my application. The custom shops are so expensive and I'm looking for some good advice from someone who has first-hand knowledge of the ins and outs of what I need for a smooth running tdm set up. I greatly appreciate your time to answer this.
Thanks mucho,
Steve