Well, I went with the Macbook Pro 17" 2.6gig, high res and used Crucial to up the ram to 4gigs (thanks for the tip).
So far I have really loved it. It has taken a bit of time to get acquainted with OSX but I like it. Very efficient. It has amazing battery life compared to my Alienware and it is really light, powerful, and well rounded. I think the PC I was looking at might have been more powerful, but all said and done I really like this computer. Buyers beware… if you are changing from PC to Mac, really look at software too. I needed $1500 in software purchases to duplicate all my needs on the Mac. Again, I still think it was worth it, but it was unexpected.
This is a really nice system and it will make me more productive. As long as your willing to spend the time to really get to know the system.
Thanks for all the help,[/code]