Since I don't feel comfortable putting a system together, I'm going to go with a ready to go out of the box laptop, since that's what I really want anyway.

CPU, motherboard and RAM
Acer 5920-6313 Core 2 Duo T5250 GeForce 8600M GT 2GB 160GB 15.4IN WXGA HD-DVD Vista Premium Notebook - $1,489.98 CAD
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25397&vpn=LX.AGW0X.148&manufacture=A cer

My total dream computer = $1,489.98 CAD

TTYL