Hurrah! With the 3 year super warranty and all that, it comes to $2040.11 with academic discount factored in. I had to call them up to mix the warranty with the academic pricing (minor annoyance) but like the last sales person, this guy was very friendly and helpful. It might've helped that he was another Southerner who heard my origins in my voice -- in my experience, Southerners, regardless of job or situation, tend to be friendlier to other Southerners than to people from outside the region. In about 10 days, I'll have my new personal laptop, and whenever it makes it through the bureaucratic pipelines, I'll have a work laptop too. This lifts my spirits a bit, even factoring in that I just dropped a little over $2000. Now I just need to sell my car...