so what do you guys recommend?

 

$1500 will get you a decent set up. No specific recommendations, but definitely go for something with a decent video chip. This link should help you with that.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/28004109/G...art-March-2011

I'd also recommend a Sandy Bridge i7 and at least 6 gigs of ram. Given that you're looking at a laptop don't forget about portability. If you're going to get a massive 17.3" 9 lb bohemouth, you may as well just get a desktop. That's just my personal opinion though.

 

that will get you a dell vostro with a 6630 and still have about $300 left over. Problem is that A LOT OF laptops come with crappy screens that are low res (1336*768) so having an extremely fast chip is useless at such a low res..... look for something with a 6970m and a 1080p panel for some good gaming fun but you are looking at MORE than 1500.... and those cards are usually reserved for a larger heavier laptop...

 

Here is one very similar (if not the same) to what my brother bought last week.

HP Pavillion dv7tqe

$1,579.99

Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2720QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 3.3 GHz
2GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6770M Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
17.3" diagonal Full HD HP Anti-glare LED Display (1920 x 1080)
Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN with Wireless Display Support

 

^ I hate the trackpad on that, though. I know you wouldn't use the trackpad to game, but it's the little things about the current HPs that suck.

~Cheers~

 

Yeah their trackpads suck but the rest of the specs are very hard to argue with.

 

I have that HP. Great laptop, bad trackpad. Put an SSD in it.

 

I have an ASUS and although don't game with it the specs are quite capable and comparable to alienwares. I am sure I am out of loop on up to date gaming laptops but I have enjoyed the crap out of mine.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834230101

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152266

i would go for the asus

 

there are 17" models that can fit your budget too. i just picked those that matched my preferences (15" screen with 1920-1080 resolution)

 

Not really meant for gaming, but I saw online that MicroCenter and Best Buy had a decent HP. 15 inch screen (1920x1080), aluminum construction, Sandy Bridge Core i7, 2GB dedicated graphics card (AMD 6770M), 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD. At MicroCenter its $1100 after a MIR. My friend was looking for a new laptop for college (Mechanical Engineering) so I stumbled upon that for him.