Solved! $999 Dell from Costco a Good Value?

[cougsfoevah]

I'm a grad student looking for a good, all-purpose laptop. I need it to be reasonably durable (to last three years of travel and being carried around campus), to be a good gaming machine, and to serve as a media machine providing content to an HDTV (32" 720p Samsung). My budget is less than $1000

Here's the best option I've found so far:

Dell Inspiron 15
Intel® Core™ i5-450M Processor (2.4GHz)
8GB DDR3 SDRAM
640GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Blu-Ray
15.6" 720p display
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470 Graphics
$999.99

See more details at costco.com - http/tinyurl.com/3277ocn

My main concern is durability- this is Dell's lowest-quality machine and I don't want to replace this thing in another 12 months. I figure that buying it from Costco will help since they bump the manufacturer's warranty from one year to 2. Any thoughts/suggestions on a better machine?

 

[buwish]

It's a bit of a rip off, at least from my perspective. You can do better for $1K. Have a look at these:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146777
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114803