Hardware/software decision
 

I might be leaving my current job in next 6-9 months (I completely boared here) and going freelance.
So I have to make the right HARDWARE decision a decision that I don't regret. This has to see me through for the next 2 years minimum.
I am earning descent money... in the future I might not get this chance for a while.

Right now I have a 1.6 Ghz Athlon (2000XP I think) PC with 1 GB of RAM and Geforce Ti4600 128mb ram video card. Plus I am using Maya 4.5. I am thinking of buying Maya 5.

Now would you buy -
a) A new powerfull desktop.
b) Stick with the above machine as desktop and get a new powerfull workstion laptop (Dell M60).

As I travel 2-3 hours for my current job a laptop would be handy to use the time for learning... plus in 9 months when I leave I could use this laptop for making presentations to the clients. Will a 9+ months old laptop be still able to handle Maya 5+?
What should I do
What would you do?

Screw it I am getting M60 and Maya 5.

I'm using a m60 and it is a very stunning machine. It is a bit bulky but packs alot of horse power.

I will order it tonight.
You know there are 2 batteries to choose from- What is the difference. Does one allow 2 batteries to be used or something?
I will get minimum RAM and then buy the rest from crucial.

Roach if you are Mayaing how long does the battery last?
Can you leave it to render for 12+ hours without the laptop frying?
I will be either taking the best or the worst decision of my life tonight :-) :-(

Oh and W2k or XP????????

xp is more stable for maya than 2k its always getting patches to reinforce it self so your operating system doesnt crash in the event of critcal error.