Yeh been looking at Dell's. The customization I'm looking for actually ends up above the Alienware in some cases.

Originally I was shooting for something with these specs:

15.1 Inches
Pentium M 2.0 GHz Processor
1 GB RAM
100 GB 7200 RPM Drive

But now I'm wondering if I should spring for the 17" or perhaps even one of the Dual-Core processors.

Found an Acer for a good price with everything I want sans the HD, though I've heard some nasty things about SATA drives, so I'm thinking external Firewire is the way to go anyway. Only thing that makes me hesitant is its only got a 1 year warranty. Would hate for my shit to break 18 months down the line and I'm SCREWED.

Any thoughts on the Dual Core processors?