Unless you really plan on moving around with the thing Laptops aren't very good for gaming. Overheating, lack up upgradability, battery draining, power dependency, you aren't going to get much out of a laptop unless you really move around a lot.

Drazule

-I'd like to spend sub $600--that doesn't include the monitor. So if I can go lower, the better. Or if someone can convince me that there is a marginal performance increase for a tad more money.. 600 is a fine amount of money (if we're talking US dollars)

-I'll primarily be using it for video editing/Wacom related stuff.

Which means you'll want a good graphics card (probably 1GB of dedicated Video Ram will be fine) and a processor that is quad core or better.

-Does it make any sense to consider a Mac?

Yes, you should consider it but as soon as you reach the obvious conclusion that Macs suck for their price then... you'll want to stick with windows.

What I'd like to know is how much I'm going to save if I order the parts myself vs buying a setup that's ready to go?

I just did a quick search on buying some PCs online in America and With that 600 dollars you could make a machine that is just about the same as a $1250 PC.

-Do the pc builders feel their machines are reliable and trouble free?

If you make it right and put the in the time to search for parts that are compatible with each other then you're PC will turn on. Then just get the right software and your pretty much good to go.

How is the mod scene?

The only bigger mod scene than UT3s mod scene is for Half life 2. Thanks to the Make Something unreal Contest there are a **** load of High quality mods for UT3. Check out a pretty large list of the mods Here

Heres a summary of how to get your controller to work for PC:

1.Download the required plug ins either from the microsoft* site or there should have been a CD that came with the controller that has the plug ins on it. Now connect the 360 controller.

2.When you first plug in your controller nothing will happen except your controller should light up to indicate that you are player 1, if this doesn't happen press the Guide button (the one with the 360 logo) still if nothing happens then re-download the required software, if nothing is still happening then the 360 controller is probably faulty.

3. Now you have all the drivers and the 360 controller works (well sort of, buttons still don't do anything) download the program **Joy2Key this program basically makes the computer think your 360 controller is part of the keeyboard and then you can assign any button to any key on the keyboard e.g. assigning RT to left mouse click will make it so that when you press RT in FPS games you will shoot.

4. You need to configure the keyboards keys to seom of the 360s buttons.***Use this image to help you find your way***

****THIS TUTORIAL outlines steps 3-4 better than I can.

Maybe I haven't solved the problem but if you did follow these steps it should work perfectly fine.

*=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906347

**=http://www.electracode.com/4/joy2key/JoyToKey%20English%20Version.htm

***=http://media.photobucket.com/image/Joy%20to%20key%20buttons%20controller/traycerb/Xbox360WirelessControllerImageX3.jpg

****=http://www.rmxpunlimited.net/forums/index.php?/wired-xbox-controller-windows-t3015.html

Gamespot found a way to screw up my HTML code. so I couldn't link properly D: