$1500ish "gaming" laptop purchase, help!

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How'd you get $1700? My first response to this post has all the things you want for $1524 (inspiron 1720, 17" screen; you're looking at the 1520 which is the smaller one 15.4"). I don't think you mentioned weight being an issue.. :p.

I added a few things to the minimum config, but it's also discounted via an employee purchasing program. I looked at your first response, I definitely don't want a 17" screen, they're too big and heavy for any practical use in class. I know I'm looking at the smaller one, 15.4" is probably a good size, but like I said in my post - paying for the name Dell (which doesn't even have a very good rep) isn't ideal.

I've been looking into Asus, if anyone can suggest something solid from them or something with a Radeon x1700 or GeForce 7600 that would be money.
 
I was all set and ready to buy the Asus F3JP-AS096C for gaming/college purposes, which I think would have been pretty solid, but the company I was buying it from, CDW, had it on backorder. In their infinite wisdom, they accepted my order, and when I went in to check on it, it said the product was discontinued.

Now, I suppose I could go buy this laptop on Newegg, as they seem to have some left, but I'm a little sketched out now that it was "discontinued."

All I want is a laptop that I can use to play some games on maybe medium to high end settings for at least 18 months, until I can build another desktop (that's smaller than the outdated one I have now, housed in a gigantic full ATX tower case).

I was hoping to spend around $1500, but I'd like to know what graphics card to look for -- Now I'm thinking that maybe I should try to get a Santa Rosa CPU now that I'm looking around again... but these are the specs I'm thinking:

-Asus or other non-****** brands preferred
-Wide Screen 15.4" display, at least 1440x900 resolution
-Core2Duo CPU of sorts, around 2.0ghz
-120-160GB hard drive
-1gig of ram (1 dimm) (or 2gigs, but I was planning on just installing a gig which is usually less expensive)
-DVD burner
-Webcam, if possible
-Dedicated graphics card that is actually good

a 15.4 monitor at 1400 x 900 resolution??? is that even possible??
 
what is wrong with the one i linked? you need to change the memory and a fe wother things, but for your specs it comes under $1500.

The only problem that I had was that I don't trust ibuypower enough to drop 1500 there for a laptop that I need dependability, reliability, from a place that I trust. I've at least seen ads in magazines for CyberPowerPC (which I looked at, some nice notebooks, all that would work are extremely heavy for the size that they are, unfortunately.)

In fact, the price on the ibuypower was so attractive, that I even checked into it - but the website itself had fairly poor reviews on the websites that I looked at. For a website like that to have bad reviews, I can't justify the cost savings.

Not to mention, one of my friends bought from Cyberpower or Ibuypower and their notebook was kind of flimsy, I'd prefer something that is a little more well put together.

EDIT: As far as Asus goes, I'm thinking that either this: Newegg.com - ASUS F3 Series F3JP-AS096C NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T7200(2.00GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA+ 1GB DDR2 667 160GB 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 - Retail (the original one I was going to get from CDW) or this: Newegg.com - ASUS A8 Series A8JS-4S024C NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T7200(2.00GHz) 14" Wide XGA+ 1GB DDR2 667 120GB 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce Go 7700 - Retail . I'm thinking that the 14" might be better just because of the graphics card and the weight (bringing it to class to take notes). And I'll have an HD 19" WS monitor in my dorm to connect the thing to anyways, if I'm doing any gaming.
 
zmatt is right when it comes to the firegl, it's definately a workstation card not meant for gaming, however, I've gotten mine to run games just fine. The thing I like so much about IBM/Lenovo, is the great reliability and outstanding customer support that you don't get with anyone else.

if not IBM, I really like ASUS as well :)

really, with all of the suggestions that have been made though, you can't really go wrong :)
 
Check out this MSI one:

Newegg.com - MSI L745-072US NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T7200(2.00GHz) 17.0" Wide XGA 2GB DDR2 533 160GB 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 - Retail

I got one about 3 months ago and im very happy with it. Pretty powerful, especially for the money. It is more expensive cause it has, a very nice, 17inch screen, but there is a cheaper 15inch one.

Seriously if you can spend the extra cash this is a really good laptop. It doesnt look as good as some sony or hp laptops on the outside, but under the hood its more powerful than just about anything else for the money.

EDIT: Sorry, realised this is a fair bit more expensive than what you wanted... still its a good laptop.
 
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