I don't think you need to spend anywhere near that much unless you're going mad on the extras.
From dell.com I've just put together an E1705 that comes in at $2,112:
My Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB)
FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with 1GB of memory
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
160GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive *
FREE!8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Integrated Audio
My Accessories
53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Dell Nylon Deluxe Carrying Case
Dell Wireless 1390b/g (54Mbps)
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)
if needed
My Software
No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 15-months
Trial pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo
My Service
3Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
1Yr Computrace LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection
6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Also Includes
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Award Winning Service and Support
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Windows Vista™ PremiumCompatibility Alert
* For the HD I'd definitely recommend getting the smaller but faster internal drive (80GB 7200RPM SATA, -$25) and buying an external HD for extra storage (cheaper from elsewhere unless you can haggle Dell down pricewise on the whole bundle, as I was lucky to) - unless you
have to have all your porn available on the move.
There are also loads of extra options that I don't know whether you want or not (USB sticks, mice, software etc etc).
So before you go any further tell us what exactly you want this for (or what extras you selected), because I doubt you need half the extras you're considering paying for.