I wouldn't buy top of the line, ever. You pay a hefty premium for that.
Instead I would take that $3K, take a cheaper vacation elsewhere, then come back and buy a nice system for $1600 or so, get a larger hard drive and more RAM than is normal.
In 2 years the difference between the two systems will pale next to the difference between them and then current hardware, but you will still have a decent computer and some happy memories. :-)
Cheers,
Ben