I would put my vote for a Mac, but I am somewhat of a fanboy. I understand that Mac's still use Core 2 Duo's and such. But honestly, it's a freakin' laptop. I really don't need a quad core and 4870x2 CrossFire. My battery life on my 17" Macbook Pro lasts me through ALL of my classes which is about 5-6 hours worth a day. I just crank the brightness down to half and I'm good. This is a 3.0Ghz C2D, 3GB RAM, and 8600GT.