Looking to buy a new computer for gaming/schoolwork. Any suggestions?

[GhOsT1321]

Dell has some insane deals right now. This xps is almost $700 off and fits your $1000 budget very well.

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Quad core, gt 540m, blu ray player, bluetooth, inbuilt 3g modem (SO CONVENIENT), 750gb hdd, 8gb ram. 15.6" screen,
For $1000 that is pretty hard to fault. AND IT'S A 7200rpm hdd!!!

Yeah, I like that haha

The laptop I posted would be better suited for games. It has a more powerful video card.
Here are some benchmarks and specs.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

[I_Am_Skip]

Yes, but I have never even heard of those brands haha. What's not to say it isn't put together with a glu stick?
That also has a 5400rpm drive which would probably offset the graphical performance difference anyway.

And that gpu if you look at the nvidia website says 'up to' x specification. So in buying this laptop you actually have no idea what the gpu specs are :S

 

[GhOsT1321]

The hard drive would little affect gaming in terms of video settings. Loading however, would take longer. Loading terrain and loading screens.
Also, you can replace most laptop hard drives. You cannot replace integrated GPUs. If loading is too slow, you can at least fix it. Where, if the graphical performance of the dell laptop is sub par, you can't improve it.
The laptop I posted from iBUYPOWER uses a GT 555M vs the GT 540M used in the Dell.

Edit: For $36 you can upgrade the 5400RPM hard drive to a 7200RPM hard drive.

 

[I_Am_Skip]

Remember he has to use this thing for school and other stuff as well.
And yes that may be true, but that laptop still is a no name brand :S. Either way It should be fine