FriarTed

My LD GF has sent back two Gateways for DVD & gaming problems. At the bottom are their specs. She wants a notebook primarily for DVD watching, CD listening & gaming, at least 17" screen. We're starting at $800, but could go up to $1500. What I want her to do is check at Best Buy, CompUSA, Wal-Mart, etc.- settle on what she wants & I'll send her the $$$. She wants me to shop around on the Net (which is what we did for our Gateways) to get the best deal, whereas that is now the last thing I want us to do.

So I am asking for guidance on the best performance media & gaming notebook at the best bargain- Pleeeease! I'm not totally against buying over the Net, so links are welcome.

Here are the types of games she plays-
THIEF GOLD!
Sims 2
Planescape Torment
Beyond Divinity
Arcanum
Doom (even DOS-based)
Perdition's Gate
Old School 80s-90s games


The first notebook:

Gateway NX860
Model #M685 T5500
Display: 17" WXGA Widescreen (1440 × 900 Max Res)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 (1.6GHz)
Memory: 1024MB 667Mhz DDR2 Memory (2-512MB)
Hard Drive: 120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Optical Drives: CDRW-DVD Combo Drive
Video: nVidia GeForce Go 7600 (128MB)
Sound: Integrated Sound
I/O Ports: (4) USB 2.0 Ports - (1) IEEE 1394 FireWire Port
Network: 10/100/1000 Ethernet
802.11a/b/g Wireless
Pointing Device: Touchpad
Media Reader: 6-in-1 Digital Card Reader
Battery: 8 Cell Li-Ion Battery with Power Adaptor
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP2)
Software: MS Works Suite 8.5

The latest one-

Gateway NX860X
1.7GHz Core 2 Duo T5300 Processor
17.1" WSXGA Ultra Bright Screen
2048MB Memory
120GB Hard Drive
8 Cell Battery
NVIDIA NV73M 128MB Video
16x DVD Writer
802.11g Wireless Networking
Windows XP (was changed from Vista)

Thanks to all who can help!

Budget: How much money are you willing to spend on the laptop?
$88-$1500

Screen: What size screen do you want, and do you need widescreen?
17" WS

Brands: Are there any brands you want or don't want to buy?
Not too enthused about Gateway right now

Mobility: How much will you need and how long does the battery need to last?
Mostly home-use.

Durability: Does this laptop need to be sturdy or durable/semi-durable?
Durable as possible

Multitasking: Will you be multitasking with this laptop and if so, how much?
Will mainly be used for playing games, CDs & DVDs.

Gaming: Will you be gaming and if so, how much and how new are the games?
YES! See above for list of games;

Calculations: Will you be doing any intense calculations or multimedia encoding?
Probably not.

Storage: How much storage will you need and what will you be storing?
100 GB, music & games.

Optical Media: Will you need to burn any optical media like CDs or DVDs?
Yes

Operating System: Do you want Windows XP or Vista, or Linux compatibility?
Prefer XP, may take Vista.

Location: What country do you live in?
USA

sobeit

most laptops have onboard video and really are not that good for gaming. With the amount you want to spend, you are very limited - true gaming laptops are not cheap.

See this for some help.

FreoHeaveho

http://www.rockdirect.com/

FriarTed

Thanks, but I'm in the US.

FreoHeaveho

You can buy them anywhere in the world.

http://www.rockdirect.com/shipping.php