Thanks guys. Yeah I think I probably should go the Mac route, since I already have a windows system, not to mention the college uses Macs, so that way I will have the compatibility. I can get quite a bit of RAM, up to 2Gigs into it i think so that should be ok. I just wish it had a bit more power in terms of graphics card, I hope it will be able to handle maya without too many slowups.

Thanks again, I appreciate your input

David