Need Advice Before Buying an XPS 17

Hi All! I just joined the forums and am currently in the market for a new laptop for college. I have a preVista Toshiba Satellite laptop that is seriously dieing and need a good desktop replacement for college. Absolutely think I'm getting a good deal here especially with $589 worth of discounts from coupons and free shipping. I just need some advice/wisdom before buying it!

Configuragions:
Operating System-Genuine Windows® Home Premium, 64-Bit, English

Processor-2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz I72630Q [317-6210]

Memory-8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory 8G2D133 [317-6204]

Keyboard Backlit Keyboard - English BCKLITE [331-1414]

LCD 17.3" FHD (1080p) with 2.0MP HD Webcam & Facial Recognition

Video Card-NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M 3GB graphics with Optimus

Hard Drive-1.0TB 500GB 7.2k HDD x 2 1TB72DD [342-2251]

Color Elemental Silver Aluminum ALUMLAN [318-0428]

Integrated Network Adapter Integrated 10/100/1000 Network Card

Adobe Reader Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9 ADOBER [410-1883]

CD ROM/DVD ROM Tray Load Blu-ray® Triple Writer

Sound JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3 JBLSND [318-0138]

Wireless Plus Bluetooth Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030 and Bluetooth 3.0

Battery 92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery 9BAT [312-1182]

Recovery Tools Recovery DVD for Windows® 7 Home Premium OS, 64bit, English


The subtotal for this configuration is $1341.98 but I'm willing to spend this much because I believe this beats any laptop in this price range.

My first question is how long can this computer last in terms of years? I'm paying big bucks so that I can have a laptop that will still last me for over 4 years.

Secondly, I want to know if the components Dell uses are of good quality and if I will be having problems with this machine in the near future. Some of my friends are telling me that Dell sucks, but I don't think so and want more opinions. I've read the customer reviews for the xps 17 and they've been very positive.

Third, Am I buying more than I need? I've had such crappy computers(my current Toshiba has already crashed on me once) that I might be trying to overcompensate. I will be playing games like Battlefield BC 2, streaming video from Netflix, and watching movies. Also, I'll be doing school work and downloading music. I'm not sure whether or not I will be doing photo/video editing but I'm pretty sure I will as I get older. Basically I want to have a versatile computer that can handle what college can throw at me and a lot more!

Fourth, What recent games can this computer play with no problem? I'm planning to buy Battlefield BC 2 but am not sure of what this computer can handle.

I know this might be a long read, but I really appreciate the help you guys can give me! Any other pieces of advice would be really helpful also!