Quote - a high end machine will probably be around $1500-$2000.

Yeah, I was thinking it would be in that ball park, probably more considering I also want a new monitor  in time as mine is quite old and even calibrating it doesn't make things view as they should.  I noticed a HUGE difference in image quality, colour and brightness when viewing the same image on both laptop and desktop monitor. 

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi