Getting a new laptop

Why do you hate macs? I would seriously recommend getting a Macbook Pro. Theire solid aluminum body is magnificent, and the OS is definitely solid.

I'm not Mac fan boy though, I do love Windows.

And with their Boot Camp thing you can easily dual boot Snow Leopard and Windows 7.

You might not like the OS as much but you ARE NOT going to find a better built laptop anywhere.

 

Go to notebookreview forums, you'll get tons of responses there and the suggestions will likely be better quality than here. Not that there's anything wrong with GC, it's just that this is kind of a pot forum, and that's a laptop forum. Just saying.

 

Avoid brands like Dell and Alienware (owned by Dell). They are NOT worth the money bc you are overpaying. Your focus should be on high RAM (like 4GB DDR2), a dual core processor (preferrably a Core 2 Duo), and a lot of hard drive space (Average is about 320 GB nowadays which should be plenty if not go 640 which is a little harder to find). Because you said you want to play games, you'd probably need a better video card than comes standard but when it comes to laptops, if it says ATI Radeon or NVidia ***, you should be just fine.

Look at HP, Toshiba and ASUS.

ASUS makes products built to last. They are more expensive than others but you get what you pay for.

HP is great for enthusiasts and for entertainment.

Toshiba can pack a punch at a more budget price.

Keep in mind these vary depending on machine, but it gives you a good place to start. and the BEST advice I can give you: get a computer to fit your needs. Just because its loaded with a bunch of crap you don't need, doesn't mean its for you. You can end up spending extra on some worthless peripherals that could have gone to something you need more. Remember its YOUR laptop, pick the one that suits YOU.

Hope this helps