Before you buy anything...have your wife check with the school. Most colleges have awesome direct purchase deals for their students now. They usually have to buy via the campus bookstore but they can save hundreds and get MUCH better systems. I have had two dell laptops and my last four have been from HP. I won't ever buy a Dell again. I had such nightmares from their service department.
Service was top notch with my xps...hard drive died one day, called them up and had my new hard drive on my doorstep next day.