Yeah I was hoping there was some way to buy it directly and get the same ratio as the gift cards. I was even going to settle and get a dell instead when I saw they had a dell gift card but then realized you're only allowed to use one dell gift card for $350 per purchase which doesn't help at all.

Unfortunately the gift card options don't include anyplace I'd be spending $2500 at in the near future. If there isn't any way to do it, I'll probably end up trying to convert the points to cash the way you suggested, it'll just take me way longer and my current laptop is nearing its end (plus you know how it is, that cash will end up being used for some bill or another along the way).