I am in need of your laptop buying skills!

Dell just upgraded their XPS line and threw in the new Intel Core Duo T2000 series processors and NVidia GeForce 7900 Go GPUs. Problem: It makes for a very expensive laptop. On paper, at least, the 7900GS is less powerful than the 7800GTX, but Dell won't allow you to get a 7800 with their XPS machines, forcing you to get the 7900GS or pay an extra $400 for a 7900GTX. I was just about ready to get a Pentium M with a 7800GTX and 2 gig RAM for $2,400. Now the cheapest XPS they offer is $2,600 and that's with the 7900GS that I'm not so confident in. So I am also looking for a powerful laptop, around $2,500 budget. Yes, I will be in college, but battery life doesn't matter to me because I do notes the old-fashioned way - pencil and paper. The laptop will be used for multimedia and probably some coding and 3D editing. I know your everyday gaming laptop isn't optimized for 3D editing but I won't be doing the kind of stuff that really should be done on a workstation.

Jam it back in, in the dark.