Tell me what I should get.

U can get same spec or better for a laptop for a cheaper price >.>
But.. thats a good spec for a laptop

its not a bad set up but i would look around a bit if possible could find better and cheaper being in australia makes it hard to say what u have access to in shops

If you want to use it for gaming and graphical rendering get a desktop for that. Much more upgradable and you can add better components (speakers, external HD's, etc.)

For a laptop you can go for something mild. "Lower" end parts and its much cheaper but still effective for everything a laptop needs to be. Laptops should really only be used for work, school, word processing, etc.

My desktop was around $1,200 (got a bunch of discounts and stuff though) and just the basics of it:
24" widescreen monitor - On a deal that came with my desktop; got it for $180, cheaper than a 18" monitor without the deal.
Intel Core2Duo e8500 (3.16ghz \ 1333mhz fsb)
2 Crossfire ATI 4870's
4GB DDR3 RAM (1333mhz)
+ All the other stuff including Os (Windows Vista with a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it comes out) for around $1200

Then G15 Keyboard and a Razr Gaming mouse and some Logitech speakers for another $200 or so.
Cheaper than the laptop, better than it, can be upgraded, I have speakers, a neat keyboard and mouse and a much larger monitor and I can buy a low end laptop for $600 or so and it will still do whatever I need it to.



Here is some that I feel would be better for you.
Options to lower the grouping down are on the left or you can just check all the boxes and hit compare.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2034940032%201039323203%20104062589%20103980230&name=16%22%20-%2016.4%22
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2034940032%201039323203%20104062589%20103980232&name=17%22%20-%2017.3%22
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2034940032%201039323203%20104062589%20103982607&name=18.4%22


All but like 3 (in the 2nd link) are cheaper than the one you are looking at and the majority of them have better specs. Depends on your 'needs' though.

Just going to point one out specifically
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220536
Large screen, 1gb dedicated graphics card, 4gb ram, and a 2.66 cpu. Much better (the difference between the graphics cards is just... Hilarious) and its still cheaper. There is others that sacrifice a bit on the CPU, GPU and Screen Size and that will drop the price quite a bit.

I would say to go for a Dual Core instead of the quad. *Edit* A high dual core though. At the minimum I would say a 2.66 but ideally 3.16 (e8500) or 3.33 (e8700)
It will knock the price down quite a bit (which you could put into a better or dual video cards) and if you *need* to upgrade later when 8 cores and 4ghz+ comes out (2010 is the expected date for this too) you still could.
Get that card to a 4870. If you are going to do a 4850 you might as well drop it to a 3870 (they have fan issues that are unfixable though so get the equivalent if so) or upgrade to a 4870. If you don't do heavy gaming (Far Cry 2, Crysis, Fallout 3 and higher) then stick to a single gpu but if you do like high settings then a 4870x2 or crossfire 4870's are excellent.
Quad cores lack support as well so a lot of programs don't run as effectively as they "should" which is why dual is still far better than a quad.

MAKE SURE that you get the bluetooth package. Mine was supposed to have it and it didn't; couldn't fit it all inside the case because the cards take up too much room. Got a refund but still retarded that they say it can work but it can't.

You also may want a larger power supply. 425W seems kind of low... But if its supposed to be fine even with input devices then okay. Mine has a 750W and the minimum they said I should have is a 600 though so have them double check.

In 5 years the CPU will have 8 cores and be clocked at like 4.2ghz.
Video cards will all be multi GPU and at least 2GB of memory.

Something like that at least.