Looking for laptop

[nosbusch2005]

I have been enlisted by my wife to find a laptop for her sister. I know little to nothing about laptops and have failed to convince her to let me build her a desktop computer. She wants to be able to play games on it. My wife is going to get her Sims 3 but other than that I would guess she will be playing less demanding games. She also wants it to be able to last for a few years and cost less than $1000. I have been browsing Newegg and the forums here and have some ideas I just want to run it by some experts to see if they have any ideas.

I found this one: Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS7741G-7017 NoteBook Intel Core i5 460M(2.53GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
The price is good and the specs seem pretty good but is Acer a reliable brand? I'm not really familiar with them.

I also found these: Newegg.com - ASUS N52DA-X1 NoteBook AMD Phenom II Quad-Core P920(1.6GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730
Newegg.com - lenovo IdeaPad Y560(0646-54U) NoteBook Intel Core i7 740QM(1.73GHz) 15.6" Wide XGA 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730
They are from brands I am at least familiar with and the spces seem better, but they also cost more. Are they worth the extra money over getting the Acer?
Or am I completely off and should be looking for something totally different?
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Is there a special reason why she wants a laptop? To play games in bed?

I would either get the ASUS or Acer. The ASUS has a slight better Graphics card. But the $ difference does not do much.

In this situation, I would get the Acer, IMO.

 

[Abstract Hero]

Ya I'd go with the Acer. Anything else would be overkill.

 

[nosbusch2005]

Thanks for the input guys. She'll like that you saved her some money

Is there a special reason why she wants a laptop? To play games in bed?

She says it is because she has a small apartment and doesn't have room for anything else. I told her I could build her a desktop that wouldn't take up anymore space than a laptop but she wasn't convinced. I think she just wants a laptop for the "cool" factor. It's been discussed But in the end it's her money so her decision.