Now, her primary editing software would be Final Cut Pro and the main use of the rig would be editing, watching movies and browsing the web. Gaming would be pretty much non-existant.
I can look at the numbers of the components myself, but when it gets down to it, I am not sure what parts complement editing and which don't. This build needs to encompass the works which means also a monitor, mouse, decent speakers, soundcard, an SSD for a boot drive and 1TB HDD for mass storage and everything else that goes into a machine. The keyboard is on me : v
Also, how much of a pain would it be to install OS X onto this? I've heard horror stories about installing it over Windows, but is it the same if you start fresh?
If you go for exactly the same parts as a Mac, installing a Hackintosh isn't that big of a deal.
Some forum members have posted links in the past to the websites where you can get all the info on that.
A monitor is very important. If the work is going to be reviewed on a Mac, I think it's important to go with a monitor with the same colour profile as a Cinema Display.
Final Cut Pro is not a particularly demanding piece of software, but the best graphics and CPU solution that is offered by Apple is probably the best starting point nevertheless. Also, legally you have to put an Apple sticker on the hackintosh, because the license states that OSX may only be used on machines with the Apple logo on them. OSX is not expensive, it's only 20 EUR or so, don't use an illegal copy, it's not worth the potential trouble.
I was looking at the i7-2770K as potential replacement for the i5 in the Amazon link because from what I've heard it has great overclocking capabilities. Overclocking isn't a necessity on this, but it would be nice to get a little more out of it for minimal added cost.
Should I be looking at AMD CPUs or are the two contenders relatively equal in this area? I want her to get the best bang for buck, so the parts should make sense to one another.