Dilemma on management of computers

Current computers I have:

Inspiron 530
24" HD Monitor (1920x1200)
Core 2 Quad Q6600
3GB DDR2 RAM
320 GB HDD
8500 GT (NVIDIA) 512MB

Apple Macbook
Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz
2GB DDR3 RAM
250 GB HDD
9400m (NVIDIA)

Toshiba A135-S4467
Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz
3GB DDR2 RAM
160 GB HDD
Integrated Intel Graphics

I really want to sell some of these before prices go down, and to take advantage of the holiday season.

Mainly, I'm deciding between keeping the PCs or not.

The Dell desktop gets around 2800 in 3DMark06, and surprisingly enough the Macbook gets around 2600 in 3DMark06. It's a great score on the Macbook considering the size of that device and the behemoth Inspiron. I need the 24" monitor, as the resolution is great for design and movie watching.

Personally what I'm thinking of is selling the desktop and Toshiba notebook, and keeping the monitor and the Macbook. But I'm not sure if that is a good idea, as it would essentially be a downgrade in performance, however small. (The Macbook could cover my Windows needs as well. There are no driver issues).

Therefore, I'm also thinking about returning the MacBook (It's still in MacConnection's return window) and getting the 2.53GHz MacBook Pro. It scores around 5000-6000 in 3DMark06. If I do get the Macbook Pro, I would sell the desktop and Toshiba notebook for sure.

Now that I type it out I guess the Toshiba laptop's going for sure not matter what path I take.

Just looking for some input if I should

a) Sell Toshiba and Dell, get Macbook Pro and connect to 24"
b) Sell Toshiba and Dell, keep current Macbook, and connect to 24". Take the dip in performance, but I'll be itching to upgrade after a couple of months.
c) Sell Toshiba, upgrade the video card in my Inspiron, and invest in a KVM switch to use the same monitor and keyboard and mouse between the Macbook and PC. This is the option I am the least inclined to do; sounds complicated and there's a higher chance the video signal gets messed up with all the connections and adapters and whatnot.

Also, does anyone have any experience with dealing with returns at MacConnection.com? They state they charge a 15% restocking fee for devices with no flaws, but I can always cite the subpar quality of the screen. Keep in mind that I bought this computer on the 28th of November, received it on December 8th, so it's well within the 30 day return timeframe.

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post, and I'd appreciate any input.


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Edit: I'll use the computer(s) I end up with heavy graphics and photography editing, gaming with TF2 and CS:S, plus the typical computer user activities such as music listening, browsing, office applications, etc.

Edit 2: Oh, and I forgot to add - the 2700 ish scores of the Dell and Macbook are a little too low for my tastes, but to be totally honest, I'm not sure if I really need a top of the line GPU. I was considering the 4870 HD from ATI, but seems a bit overkill for what I do - I just do a lot of graphic work, some TF2 and CS:S gaming on weekends, and typical tasks like homework, music listening, surfing. To be honest, the 2700ish score is fine for my computer - I can play TF2 on all settings high except for AA and Anti at 1280 x 800 at 30 FPS, but of course I'd like to do it on a higher resolution. I'm just not sure if investing 600 more for a Macbook Pro would be worth it. I'm going to be keeping this computer for SURE for the next 2 and a half years. Now as I'm typing this I guess if I start to use CS4 a better graphics card would mean faster performance, because CS4 is the first in the creative suite to utilize GPU processing.

 

Well your asking in a mac forum so no surprise, I say keep the macbook + monitor and dump the others.
Next year (2009) snow leopard will be out which will also enable gpgpu acceleration of programs. If your not a huge gamer than the mb should get you by. It will also handle PS4/CS4 well and provide extra gpu acceleration.
If your finding that this isn't cutting the mustard in 6 months time, then you should be able to buy a refurbished/2nd hand alu mbp for a decent price, and hopefully not incur a huge hit to the back pocket.
a


ps upgrade the ram to 4Gb on the mb with the $ you get from your other stuff

 

Even if CS4 utilizes the graphics unit in rendering the MacBook will do very well still. If your day job requires rendering graphics constantly then having a better unit would be in order. In that light, stick with the MacBook and sell the rest.

Laptops are becoming more and more used as full-time desktops these days anyway.

 

I like to have more than one computer only because if you sold your other machines and you Mac were to go down for some reason, you'd be without a computer until it was fixed, which could be a while depending on the situation. Sell the computer that has the most value.

 

The Macbook has the most value, actually.

 

I would not do it this way, why get rid of the best thing you have?
I would sell the computer that has the least amount of importance/use.
Makes more sense to me... why keep cr#a$p?
a