I am in dire need of a new PC. I have opted to go with a laptop since the mobility is one of the things I really could use. I am not a heavy gamer, but do like to game occasoinally. I do like to do video editing and I am familiar with Finalcut Pro and Mac'* in that aspect. The primary use for now will be for school (online university and word proccessing). A few features that I want are 1gig mem, dvd burner, larger faster HD, and descent video.

Here are my two final choices (both virtually the same price):

1) Apple 17" widscreen

1.5GHz PowerPC G4 with 128MB Graphics Memory
80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 5400rpm
AirPort Extreme Card
1GB DDR333 SDRAM - 2 SO-DIMMs
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.*. English
Final Cut Express software preinstalled
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) 17-inch TFT Display
1440x900 resolution
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
512K L2 cache
ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64MB DDR)
Backlit Keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
AirPort Extreme built-in
DVI & *-Video out


2) Alienware Area-51 Extreme

Alienware Magnesium Alloy Chassis
Intel® Pentium® 4 @ 3.4GHz 800FSB
Hyperthreading Technology
User-Upgradeable Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce™ FX Go5700
15.4"inch WideSXGA+ 1680x1050 LCD
60GB 7200rpm HDD with 8MB Cache
Integrated Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Infrared Remote control
3-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader
4X DVD+RW Optical Disk Drive
Internal Wireless 802.11a/b/g miniPCI Card
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Microsoft® Works Suite 2004
Norton AntiVirus™ 2004 Professional Edition

No Windows XP on the Apple :?: J/K

I'd say get the Alienware Area 51.

I vote apple you know how much that damn alien weighs....no gameing notebook is good for hauling anywear an if your gonna use it as such not worth the weight unless you wanna bulk up some

Have you looked at a ThinkPad?
Portability at it'* best.

We use thinkpads at my work. They are a very good business laptop but only marginal for multimedia still.

A heavier laptop isn't an issue for me. Most places I would be using it it would be sitting on a table or something and probably remain there for a while. I just want to be able to go from my house, parents house, friends house, and such.

The apple would be best for me as far as multimedia and my video editing goes, but the Alienware will let me do alot more with applications that I already posess.

Apples are evil. 'Nuff said...

Unless you got a pony tail and your middle name is Seth get the Alien :P

Hey Mos, I'm glad you have such an objective opinion on this one.

..lol

What can I say?? I'm a PC guy. Plus, you mentioned at least some gaming. Since that'* what Alienware concentrates on, that'* where I'd go....