Well, I went ahead and ordered
this Acer. It has an x1600 GPU instead of the old x1400, and an added 20 gigs of HD space. I spent somewhere between 25-30 hours researching this model before buying it, and I know it's going to be money well spent. I bough the two year warranty extension as well, so I'm covered for 3 years (1 year manufacturer's warranty + 2 year buy.com support). It should arrive sometime this week. I'll let you all know how it works out. =D