Thank you all for your advice in this thread! So I did it... I GOT A MACBOOK!!!!

Your advice was really helpful. But... my girlfriend was with me at the time... and she pushed me into getting the 15 inch model instead of the 13! So that alleviated both problems: not having separate line in and line out, and the graphics questions.

But there is one more twist... the whole reason for this was because I was completely fed up with Dell. I had spent so many hours upon hours on the phone trying to get my issues resolved. Nothing worked... new parts, re-installing windows, nothing. So...

As I am literally trying out the MBP for the first time... Dell calls. Blah blah blah, "hello Mr. Street, do you have a moment to talk.." I say yes. They say my computer is now out of warranty by one day. Yeah I know. Then, the bombshell.... THEY ARE REPLACING IT WITH A NEW ONE.

I was shocked. And I said, "hey, you should have done this like a month ago, I already got a new computer." He said don't worry about it. Oh, and they don't make my model anymore, so they will send me a slightly more powerful one.

Wow.

Just a weird day yesterday, but I have to say I am SO THRILLED to be part of the Apple family. Dell did the right thing in the end, but it wasn't enough to keep me from buying a different computer, which I instantly fell in love with.

Thank you all! You are awesome, and I'll be on here quite a bit more often now! Later!

-street