I post a message here when i need advice from the experts, and now's one of those times.
I'm going to buy a Mac book Pro with all the bells and whistles (2.16 GHz, 100G HDD, 2G RAM, 7200RPM HDD) for about $3400. I want to be able to run windows os (via Parallels, i guess?) so my kid can do his gaming, this is important to me. All his stuff is for PC, some are intense, and require robust graphics. Not fond of buying a new video cards with each game purchase. I also do Autocad. Hate my PC. Need to be mobile. Want to go to Star$$ and surf my websites at hi-speed. Wanna watch a DVD. Wanna burn a DVD. Hate spyware, not fond of virii. Want to network (wirelessly?) with my two windows PC's, and I'm getting Airport base. Am I barking up the wrong street? Should i go for it? Will i be happily forever after? Anything else i do need, things I don't. The Apple lady was a great salesperson and i don't want to be shackled, but i also want ONE computer that can do everything i (and my 9-yr.-old) want to do, and i don't want to buy another for a long time. I'll take all the input anyone wants to give, and i'll appreciate it.

The Intel Mac *should* be able to do everything that most PC's can do, when running windows (there's parallels , which runs both windows and OSX concurrently, and also 'Boot Camp' which runs *either* windows or OSX at any one time, and subsequently uses up less resources, leaving more for programs etc.)
As to the very top end (most system intensive) games, i think there may be a problem..i've run into comments and such variously on the net that would seem to suggest that there's some extra design considerations in the gaming oriented pcs' processors out there, that may be required for these games to run..
I would focus my attentiion on the upper limitations as regards gaming, as in every other regard these new Macs do seem to be the 'Brave New World' of integration..after all, a single computer that can run everything and do everything is truly the 'holy grail' of computing, and, although I don't think we're there yet, it's a good step in the right direction by Apple, I think.
If someone into serious gaming has had any experience with these new Intel Macs, their feedback would be more useful to you than anything else you'd likely need to know.
Let's hope someone like this also replies to your post..
HTH

I now DO know that mini-disc get stuck in the sleek 'slit' drive of the macs..so beware of that.

Also being a recent owner of the macbook, i can tell you that it does crash occasionally (despite apple's claims that it will never).

Dont know about Gaming or Autocad.

I'd second the idea that for gaming purposes I think Boot
Camp would be better option than Parallels. (although "high
end gaming" and "laptop" generally aren't thought of in the
same sentence)

Myself, I wouldn't spend the extra cash for an Airport Base
Station. You can get a 3rd party wired/wireless router for
around $40, I've used Linksys and Belkin routers with my
home network (3 Macs, 3 PCs) and work network (2 Macs, 5
PCs) and they work great.