I'm looking for something to use for Firefox, music, some photos, video editing, some gaming, and web designing. I'm leaning heavily towards a notebook.
Right now I have a Dell Dimension desktop thats about 4+ years old, and a 12" iBook g4. Both could use a replacement. The Dell crashes occasionally, is fairly slow running, and has to be kept open to keep it from overheating. The iBook has a bent power connector so I have to twist it in a circle and it spirals into place, an extremely small 30 gb hard drive, and there's no way it could handle any gaming.
My birthday is coming up, and with my funds, and a hefty birthday gift, my budget is pretty large.
My current ideas:
1. Refurbished?/MacBook Pro 15" or 17", 160gb hd, 2gb ram - $2000-$2600
There's an offer for Final Cut Express 3 (video editing) for $100 ($200 off) right now that I'd love to have. / Education discount if I don't go with Refurbished
2. Gigabyte 15.4-inch W551N Notebook from iBuyPower - configured w/ 2 GB ram, 160 GB hard drive - $1945
3. Battalion 101 HEL-80 Notebook from iBuyPower - configured to the 1680X1050 display, 160gb hard drive - $1833
This is by no means all I'm considering. If you have any suggestions, I'm welcome to them. Also, a desktop instead of a notebook isn't totally out of the question... but I'd need some convincing if you think I should buy a desktop in my scenario.