MacBook Pro...
...with the education discount it comes in at under $1993.95 inc tax and free shipping (at least for Virginia) for the 2.4GHz version and it'll handle everything you need. It's durable, comes with basic software for image/video editing, has a lovely screen, looks nice and runs Windows pretty well too.

Games performance is also surprisingly good considering it only has a 9600M-GT, though i'm not sure what kind of performance reduction the 2.4GHz model has compared to the 2.53GHz which has double the RAM and VRAM.

You could also do pretty well with the new MacBooks too, not quite as powerful as the Pro but a lot cheaper and since it's only the components that differ (with the exception of a missing firewire port and expresscard slot) it has basically the same functionality.

Admittedly you could get the same spec as a MacBook Pro for the same price as a MacBook if you looked around for bargain deals from other companies such as ASUS or Dell, you won't get the same hardware quality or user experience, but you'll save a couple hundred dollars. I'd stay away from AlienWare though, those laptops are powerful but they're not exactly cheap and if your preference is work over play then i'd go for Apple instead.

It's about time I had an LCD TV

I'd like to test this out over here in the UK, before it actually goes on sale.

This would be a great replacement for my battered old Minolta

2 Hours play-time? Nice try, but no thanks...

Error: the Freecom card actually only goes up to 2GB so this is far better :P

That doesn't look much smaller than the Freecom USB DataCard which goes up to 8GB, it's just missing the plastic surround. Still nice though.

Pretty impressive stuff.

Now I can finally install that Vision Augmention canister... all I need is a medbot.

http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/product.asp?page=product&id=VULCAN

Nuff said :)

Hmm, I checked Intel's site and they don't say the Core 2 Duo is actually 64bit, it just supports 64bit, presumeably meaning it can support extra RAM. I don't think it is actually 64bit or they'd advertise it as a 64bit chip just as AMD advertise their Athlon 64s.

From the looks of it using Core 2 duo wouldn't actually make the Mac Pro any faster than the current G5 Quads, infact it would be slower since you can only have one dual core CPU.

Apple really should have gone for AMD, they win for performance, Intel chips are just better value for money but since when have Apple's PowerMacs been about value for money? They're meant to be ultimate desktop workstations, not value home computers. Core Duos are designed with laptops and home PCs in mind, they are cool and use little power, which is irrelevant when you're spending thousands on a Mac Pro, unless of course you have multiple CPUs which is not something Core Duo is designed for.

Intel had better release the mother of all chips for the Mac Pro or i'm building my own PC to run MacOS rather than 'upgrade' my G5.

Also, the G5 case isn't actually that big, the Antec P180 on my PC is actually bigger and weighs almost the same but without any handles or as good airflow. If you buy a replacement G5 case it's about the same price although it doesn't support standard PC motherboards since it's all been custom designed.