Buying a new laptop, need advice

[Nerf]

So in about a week or so when I sell my T400, I'm going to be biting the bullet on a new laptop.  This time I want something with a video card that can actually play some games reasonably well.  My budget is $700-800, although for the right deal I'll splurge a bit if I have to, I plan on keeping this for awhile.

Heres what I'm looking at right now:

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2098-custom-laptop-built-compal-khlb2-p-2581.html?wconfigure=yes

$900, 15.6", 2.5ghz, 4gb ram, and an HD4650 graphics card that rates fairly well according to this site:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

It's a bit more than I'd like to spend, but the graphics card is rated head and shoulders above the other notebooks I've been looking at for similar money.  Tigerdirect has an MSI 17" for $700 that looks decent, but I'd really like to avoid 17" as i'll be carrying this with me to class and that's a tad on the bulky side.  I've got a 14" right now and it doesn't feel too small, but a bit bigger would be nice.

Also not worried about an OS, as I can throw on an old vista or XP key and do the student upgrade to 7 for $30.

[Trippy]

ATI's Mobile Radeon drivers scare me. You might want to do some research to make sure you are willing to put up with the issues with those things.

If you are carrying this thing around constantly something like the Lenovo Y450 would work well. The GT240M isn't quite as powerful as the 4650 but it's NVIDIA so you don't have the ATI driver issues and it's 1.5lbs lighter. There's the Y550 as well if you wanted something bigger and wanted to stick with Lenovo. The Sager is a better value I think, though.

[Nerf]

Lenovo's website has a 15% off coupon right now, I can get:

IdeaPad Y550 -1Year Depot

    Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2)
   Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
    nVidia Geforce GT 240M graphic card with 1GB memory
    15.6 HD WLED Glossy, 1366*768 with 1.3M integrated Camera
    4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz SODIMM Memory (4 Dimms)
    160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
    SuperMulti DVD Recordable (Tray type)
    Broadcom Integrated Gigabit Ethernet (802.11G)
    6 Cell Lithium-Ion 2.6Ah
    4186: 1Year Depot Warranty

for $788

Of course, the coupon expires on the 13th, and I really don't want to buy a new one until I have my old one sold.  Sigh.

[Signe]

You really sell your old computers?  We have nearly all Righ's old computers and a few of mine that I couldn't convince him to drop off in some computer recycling dumpster or something.  We have ditched monitors, but he never does with computers.  Or sells them.  He even has a really old Amiga from about 5 billion BC.  We have two rooms in this house that I never go in at all.  Ever.  It's the same with his books, although I don't mind the hard covers so much.  I always just toss out my paperbacks unless someone wants them, which most people don't.  I admit I am a hardcore tosser.

[Sheepherder]

ATI drivers scare me.

Fixed.  I love the cards, but the drivers and the interface for them is frightening.

[Nerf]

I'm looking at this now:
Asus laptop at bet buy (same one righ linked)

It's only 2.16ghz, and the ram is ddr2, but the gtx 260m is the 2nd best nvidia video card, and I haven't found anything else with the same card for less than $1500, and it seems like a card that scores 40% higher on 3dmark is going to make a bigger difference than 400mhz or ddr3 over ddr2 ram.

How wrong am I?

[Trippy]

How about fixing the link first?

[Righ]

I think it is this one.

I'm not up on the latest model numbers, but the 260M looks to be a decent chip by 'mobile' standards.

[Trippy]

Thanks. 7 lb is pretty heavy to be lugging around. Otherwise it looks like a good setup for gaming.

[Ingmar]

I used to recommend Thinkpads unreservedly but frankly there has been a slow eroding of quality since Lenovo took them over, and they're loaded with a lot more crapware than they used to be too, so be prepared to reinstall the OS first thing you do to get rid of it all cleanly. Also the case design has changed and not entirely for the better - you have to pull the keyboard off to get to the memory slots now, which just makes me  .

[Nerf]

Went to bestbuy and installed 3dmark on the pair of asus laptops they had.  The 16" that I linked above for $949 clocked in at 9100-9200 the two times I ran it, the 17" with the 2.5ghz processor and 6gb of ram came in at 10.1k.  My desktop at home came in at 10.5k, so both laptops seem pretty solid.

There is a 2.5ghz version of the 16" available on bestbuys website, but they want $1200 for it, and I can't justify $250 for the small boost.

*fake edit - looks like best buy just cranked the price on it up to $1k, heh.

[ghost]

I used to recommend Thinkpads unreservedly but frankly there has been a slow eroding of quality since Lenovo took them over, and they're loaded with a lot more crapware than they used to be too, so be prepared to reinstall the OS first thing you do to get rid of it all cleanly. Also the case design has changed and not entirely for the better - you have to pull the keyboard off to get to the memory slots now, which just makes me  .

Been a while since I bought a PC, but typically you would have to shell out another ~$250 for an OS to install, right? 

[Druzil]

I’ve had my Dell XPS M1730 for a few years now (and the M1710 before that) and the one thing I didn’t expect when I got the M1730 was the size of the power supply.  It is ridiculously large and heavy and it almost needs it own bag. Most people look at the weight of the laptop but really when you’re using a gaming laptop you need your power supply with you at all times and they can really add a ton of weight to what you carry around (it weighs 3 lbs by itself).  Just something to keep in mind when you look around at the different models.

[fuser]

Been a while since I bought a PC, but typically you would have to shell out another ~$250 for an OS to install, right? 

Generally most OEM's include a media CD of the original operating system. If your competent enough its just a fresh Windows reinstall and perhaps downloading some drivers from the manufactures website. At worst you can pay geek squad a crazy fee to do it for you.

If you have the choice Nerf make sure it comes with the install media or you can get access to a copy.

[Lantyssa]

My university offers cheap copies of common software and OSes.  Looking at his first post, he has a student upgrade path.

[Nerf]

Yeah I've got w7 install media, so thats nbd, and I was planning on doing a reformat anyways.  I'm just really pissed that bestbuy jacked the price up $50, maybe I can get them to come back down in store - I'm heading off to sell this laptop right now, and the guy forgot how much he was buying it for, so I'm getting an extra $25, woo!

[Nerf]

I bought the asus, im digging it pretty hard so far, I just wish it weren't so flashy.

[schild]

My university offers cheap copies of common software and OSes.  Looking at his first post, he has a student upgrade path.

How much for Photoshop and full CS4?

[Nerf]

My university offers cheap copies of common software and OSes.  Looking at his first post, he has a student upgrade path.

How much for Photoshop and full CS4?

People pay for those?

[Nerf]

Best buy just dropped the laptop I bought down to $899, time to see if they honor their price guarantee.

[Lantyssa]

How much for Photoshop and full CS4?

Sorry, missed this when you asked.  Here's the store for the campus community.