Johnobrucy

My current employer has given us scumbags the opportunity to purchase laptops with salary sacrificing as of the first of June 06. Now this is great for me as my desktop is really starting to age (XP1800, 512mg ram, 9600pro) and I would like use this salary sacrifice opportunity to update. Originally I was going to wait for the Intel desktop replacements later this year, but my current computer is starting to have major hardware issues and I just want a new one now.

So long story short, I mostly use my computer for gaming (CSS, HL2 and would like to get FEAR) and also like the option of mobility. I work in CAD so it would be helpful if it could run 3D Microstation/Autocad nicely as well. I have been playing with Desktops for years, but know Zero about notebooks and in particular gaming notebooks and their graphics cards. I have searched on here and googled a lot and from my research an Inspiron 9400 with the following specs fits my bill:

Dell Inspiron 9400
Core Duo T2400
1gig of 667mhz ram (is there much difference between 533mhz and 667mhz?)
Geforce Go 7900 GS (how does this compare with the X1400? now and future?)
80GB 7200rpm drive (again how does this compare with a 5400rpm?)

This comes out at just over AUD$3k and is about as much as I want to spend. I have looked at Toshiba, HP, IBM and even Alienware and nothing seems to come close at this pricepoint. So, are there any other brands that I should be looking at? Am I missing something or will this be an adequate setup for me?

One other question, am I likely to run into any problems if I format the Laptop? I was going to put a fresh install of XP Pro on there instead of the crappy XP Home that it comes with. Is it possible just to order the Laptop without anything on the drive?

Any help appreciated!