Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
Dreamer, I've owned both a laptop (m860) and a Rage - neither was worth the money spent. Both fell apart long before even my extremely cheapo eMachines (which now has the Rage's PSU, Raptor, and sound card, yet actually works, unlike the Rage). And long before the Rage cooling system blew...
The only clicking noises I've ever heard or read about, were from hard drives on their last legs. If I were you I'd call Dell right away and let them know that something's up with your machine that isn't right. Hopefully it's something minor. Good luck.
Never used NOD, but have read many comments and reviews which raved about it.
I like Kaspersky - installed it on my son's Windows machine which had previously been vulnerable and very prone to picking up all sorts of crap. To say the least, he's a very careless Web surfer. :rolleyes...
I own both machines, brown, but am not a gamer so can't vouch for how well either will run your game. However, if I had to go with one or the other, I'd go with the Mac Pro (mobility and portability aren't really issues for me). As you mentioned, you'll have more flexibility down the road and...
@Volucris: I like the . . . atmosphere in your shot. The wood, tones, colors and rugged, manly clutter work well together. Oh, and the hardware ain't bad, either. Now, if you just had a half-chugged bottle of V8 in the picture, it would be perfect. :D
PBrane, if you live near an Apple store, give them a visit. My son recently went through a similar situation, but the "Genius" at the store installed an updated version of the operating system and the problem was solved. The service was free. Good luck.