Computer shopping list

Oh yeah, a few other things, since many of you are eager to select the computer parts for me...
--I probably won't take advantage of the higher resolutions (my laptop does 1280xSomething) until much later. Don't bother looking at monitors.

Your laptop has a connector for video input (e.g., capture card, tv tuner)? Or you're going to take off your laptop's screen and rewire it? Or you're going to use VNC (e.g., TightVNC) or some other remote desktop software? (Note: VNC/RDP is too slow for gaming purposes.)

Otherwise, you cannot use your laptop's screen as a monitor for a new/other computer.

Regarding your questions:

1) The usual...: better performance at the same prices. (will probably be around 10-15% performance increase)

2) If you're planning to build a computer that will "last" for more than 5 years, I think you're doing it wrong. After 5+ years, it really should be reassigned to secondary computer status... Specifically, used for "old" games (no new games when the comp. is 5+ years old), web browsing, e-mail, etc. (It may be possible to extend usefulness with a video card upgrade, but then it would be better to save that money to use for a new computer.)

3) Make sure to select the option that doesn't charge you extra. And make sure that the total is correct when you checkout.

4) Doesn't really matter. However, for graphics cards of the exact same model number, GDDR5 > (G)DDR3 > DDR2 (old cards..). For example, the NVIDIA GT240 has a version with GDDR5 memory and another with DDR3.

5) You don't compare specs side-by-side to compare NVIDIA vs. ATI/AMD graphics cards. Consult some benchmarks. For example, you can use AnandTech's GPU Bench: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU/88 (According to AnandTech's data, the GTX 460 (1 GB) stomps all over the 4870.)

6) I think this was answered in a previous post. Reiterating.. Intel currently has the performance crown. They can charge what they want for their top of the line stuff. I can recall AMD doing the same thing for top end stuff when their Athlon 64 trounced Intel's Netburst processors (Northwood / Prescott cores) in 2003-06.

7) Your CPU socket must be supported by the motherboard. Your RAM must be supported by the motherboard (this one is easy because DDR2/DDR3 are not compatible - the notch is in a different location). If you want SLI/Crossfire, that must be supported by the motherboard and then you need NVIDIA cards (SLI) or ATI/AMD cards (Crossfire).