Thanks to both of you for your responses. I haven't seen too many "skinny orcs" or "skinny dwarves", but I can see the value in trading Race priority for added attributes. Grizzly's ork allows me to dig into the priority system to see how it compares to a human or troll trying to do something similiar.
First, the human. Let's go with Attributes A, Money B, Skills C, Metatype D, Magic E. That gives the same 5 Edge, but more than 200,000 extra nuyen. The question is whether you can get better total attributes than the ork with the use of cyberware and bioware. Body is the big stumbling block...it's not hard to get just as many soak dice by getting Orthoskin, but there are other things you use Body for where Orthoskin won't help...like Toxin Resistance Tests. Neurostun and Narcoject don't come up that often, but when they do, Body (and Willpower) become VERY important.
The other stats are easier to match. You can get used Muscle Augmentation 3 and used Muscle Toner 3 at character creation, and the essence cost is much less than used Muscle Replacement 2. Wired Reflexes 1 + Reaction Enhancers (or Synaptic Booster 2) will give Reaction and Initiative equal to or better than the ork, You may even be able to sneak in Tailored Pheromones 1 to help with fast talk and other social situations. Overall, I think the human is better off, putting aside the extra roleplaying hooks you may get from playing an ork.
Next, the troll. Metatype A, Attributes B, Skills C, Money D, Magic E. You lose one point of attributes overall (4 extra points due to Attributes A instead of B, but orcs get Body 4, Str 3 while trolls get Body 5, Str 5), and the maximum agility is 5 instead of 6. Also, your lifestyle costs are doubled. To compensate, you get +1 Reach and +1 dermal armor, and with Metatype A you get 6 Edge instead of 5 Edge. Finally, your maximum Body is 10 instead of 9 and your maximum Strength is 10 instead of 8. For a balanced build, the orc seems better, but a "pro from Dover" (maximizing in a chosen area of focus) is better off being a troll. If you're willing to sacrifice Edge for both builds, the ork gets better skills while the Troll goes to Attributes A and Metatype B, getting 4 extra attribute points.
I guess i can see some cases where the ork has a slight edge, but both the dwarf and ork are a bit behind in general. Their best use seems to be for specific builds that leverage their advantages over a standard human while avoiding the weak spots and stronger racial discrimination that trolls face.