[forketta]

Alienware
They are cool, they pack the best components, they cost way too much. you can have the same components for half the price. I know, a dell laptop is not that cool, but you know in real life there is no such thing as dailys, so money counts ;P

RAM
4G; XP 32 bit reads 3GB; the rest is used toghether wit vram from the videocard (i have a Nvidia 8800gtx with 768mb)

HD
The faster, the better. WOW keeps loading scenario, models, textures. Part of the lag is network latecy. On top of that YOUR pc must load what server tells him to load.

CPU
A dual core is fine. Some cache on each processor works wonder. Let's say 1 MB per core is good.

GPU/Monitor
LCD monitors requires for better visual quality to run at native resolution. So the GPU has to be able to handle it. I wouldn't suggest too high resolution.

Cooling.
This kind of hardware generates heat. Ask if they have one already switched on, and touch it...

Operating system
Wow The Burning Crusade runs smoothly with XP. And with antivirus and firewall runs in less than 300MB. I see no point in letting Vista eat 1GB of my ram.
Of course