New Laptop

So, my old laptop decided it liked being a toasted laptop more than a regular one, and I need to get a new one. Problem is, I really have no clue what I should get. And I decided to ask you guys, since a lot of you seem to know your thing about computers. Here's what I'm looking for:

-Cheap (preferrably under 1000$)
-80 GB HD at least
-At least decent for gaming (Anything capable of running a game like HL2 with a solid framerate and no issues)
-Whatever else is good to have in a laptop [:p]

Thanks to any/all of you who help me out in advance, it is much appreciated.

I've heard these guys aren't bad:
http://www.abs.com/index.asp
And ASUS always has something good to offer.

the cheaper alienwares aren't bad, just make sure it has a graphics card and not integrated graphics made by intel or the motherboard company

I haven't been able to find laptops below $1000 that don't have the pos onboard gfx and have a decent amount of RAM and HDD speed, I looked at cyberpowerpc and voodoopc, they probably don't offer the cheaper processors which is probably why I can't configure one below $1000 easily.

Edit: The link above seems to be your best bet so far, but the $1000 don't have the faster hard drives and the RAM is only 512mb. (the RAM isn't that fast either to make up for the lower amount)

Acer Aspire @ Newegg

It's got a Core Duo (if you get anything new these days, dual core is the way to go) @ 1.66ghz, 1gb DDR2 533 ram, 120gb HDD, and for gaming, a Radeon X1600 w/128mb I guarantee you it'll run HL2 solidly. All for $1069. In terms of the Core Duo processor, its a 65nm processor so its gonna have low energy consumption This would also be good if you're lookin to upgrade to Vista once it's out. Other than that, its got tons and tons of other features and nothin but good reviews. My guess, you couldn't go wrong with it. (Read the review on there titled "UNBEATABLE DEAL")

Also, Newegg is great, they'll get it to you in no time. I've ordered from them numerous times, haven't had a bad experience yet.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavil ... tDetail.do

heres a good laptop I found a circuitcity.com

[Brtnboarder495]

Your not going to get a non-integrated video card that is even low-mid ranged in a lappy under $1000, you'll have to spend at least ~$1500.

Look for an Intel Core Solo or Duo at 1.66Ghz at the lowest, and an Mobile ATI X1600 or Nvidia 7600 for a video card, at the minimum. Also, 1Gb of memory is definitely needed.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W ... oMA/3.?p=0

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... 10B1&s=dhs

http://alienware.com/Configurator_Pages ... KU-DEFAULT

Avoid the 7400 and X1400, they are basically the mobile equivalent of the desktop X1300 and 7300, which suck for any moderate or extreme gaming.

Apple probably offers the best, $2300 for 1Gb of fast memory, 80Gb 7200RPM HD, 2.0Ghz Dual-Core, X1600, and you can run Windows, Vista (when released) and OSX.

Thanks for all the responses. Smer, while the Acer Aspire does look nice, I'm a bit hesitant since my old laptop was an Acer as well and they seemed to have overheating issues. At this point, the laptop RenOwens linked to looks far better than others I've seen in that price range. And BrtnBoarder, what you said about getting a good nonintegrated video card is not true. Many of the Dells can be bought with a solid vid card for only 1000 or so, but those ones tend to either not have enough memory or not be early good enough overall compared to ones such as the one Renowens linked to. And while the ones you linked to are nice, I'm looking for something around 1000$, not 3000$. [:)] Keep 'em coming.

there is www.tigerdirect.com that sells laptop and computer.

Originally posted by thundermat

there is www.tigerdirect.com that sells laptop and computer.

I just bought my laptop from them a few weeks ago, its a Acer Travelmate 2423, pretty nice and looks sexy, light wieght, and runs great, the battery life's only like 2:45 long.

But it comes with a $180 mail in rebate, or atleast it did when I got it, a wireless router, and interent security, which I don't use.

DVD/CD player and burner.
it has a data drive which is like 18 GBs, and a C drive which is only 8 GBs, luckely I have a 200 GB exterer hardrive. Its also widescreen which is ok for DVDs, and stuff but all desktop backgrounds are not in porportion, and some websites are displayed funny, due to div tags.

[GRIM.657]

I <3 my alienware laptop. 80 gb harddrive (plus i got a bonus offer on a 100 gb ext harddrive) 3.8 ghz intel pentium 4, 2 gb of ram... the only thing id like to improve is my nvidia 6800 go XD...

My gaming laptop died a couple of months ago and money has been tight, so I've been doing a LOT of research into my next purchase. And yeah, it's going to be hard to find a decent gaming notebook for under $1500.

First, read this for some info on the Laptop industry (Power Notebooks also has a really good reputation):

http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/ ... news&id=17

This is why some laptops you get from Dell (or HP, or Toshiba) are good, and some are crappy (like the one I got). Try to know the ODM of the laptop and what their reputation is. I didn't like my Compal built Dell, it had heat issues and died after a year and a half. Lots of people like Clevo and Quanta (who makes the Dell Latitudes and the popular 'T' line of Lenovo ThinkPads), But my next computer will probably be an ASUS though it's going to take some saving up to get the one I'm looking at (W3J).

However the ASUS S96J can be configured nicely (1.83GHz Duo Core, ATI X1600 GPU w/256mb, 1GB ram, 80GB HD, wireless, Bluetooth, DVD-RW) for around $1200.

EDIT: More info.

Originally posted by Zazu Yen

I didn't like my Compal built Dell, it had heat issues and died after a year and a half.

Heh, my Acer did the exact same thing. I wonder if it was made by Compal as well.
And thanks for the great info, all very helpful stuff.

[Brtnboarder495]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115246

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834227002

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115258

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220020