i have to support the statements already made here. desktop replacement notebooks, esp for what you want to do, are a lie. You really should be investing that laptop cash into a great desktop+workstation card, if nothing else. Alternatively, you could just get a good desktop with hot consumer card, and a cheap laptop. In general, laptops are overrated IMO, because people overestimate the quality of the hardware. Aside from beig slow and expensive, the failure rate is enormous, and for the average user, repairing them yourself is out of the question. I know that, assuming I'm an average college student, when my final is rolling around and my HDD crashes (or battery regulator frizzles or dvdrom dies etc etc), I do NOT want my options to be a) swap things by mail to dell and hope whatever is still under warranty or b) buy a torx wrench set and hope I don't screw anything up. I want my #1 option to be run to Bestbuy, get gouged on a (still cheap) 3.5" drive and be back up an running (lucky thing I back up using my desktop-only-top-speed DVD burner!) within three or four hours. Maybe you are more educated in laptop repair than most; that is the only time I would consider a laptop as my primary workstation.
