laptop help what to buy?

[KrnWhitERoseS]

hello! i need to buy a laptop for school because my desktop is just not capable of what a laptop can do. i want one that i can also play games on...because i love to play them. like maplestory ahah.

ive heard that sony vaios, toshibas, dells, and HPs are the ones most people buy. but i dont know what to look for?
any help PLEASE i want to try and buy it before the year is through. thanks.
things i guess i would like:

• to be under $1000 - $1500 800 and below would be best but what i want might be expensive :P
• web cam and mic.
• keyboard with the tab button normal sized and not small. on my friends comp when i borrow it its too small and i miss it often ahah xD
• not too BIG i dont care if the screen isnt WIDE i just need to have it in my lap comfortably. my monitor right now is only 13x15 so whatever i can deal with anything i guess

i know there are people who know this stuff so please help!

[NewClassic]

Just about anything you could be looking for, you could find in just about any laptop these days. The only problem is the webcam and microphone. Microphones aren't really integrated on anything but Macs, which are not at all conducive to gaming.

As far as laptops go, what you should really do it hit up a computer store and physically look at the models you're interested in. Check the specs, and see what you're mostly interested in. When you find a model you like, check prices, and consider getting an older year of the same model of laptop.

As far as gaming, if they're lower-end (graphically) games, then any laptop you look into would be sufficient. As far as the keyboard, there's no way to know until you look at it.

Personally, I use Gateway laptops. It works for me, the gaming specs are decent enough. This particular model ( Gateway Computers: Store - M-150X ) has everything you're looking for except the microphone, so check out headsets or desk mics as well. Logitech doesn't do me wrong ( Amazon.com: Logitech 980130-0403 Premium USB Headset 300: Electronics )

Hope that helped.

[lovegirl_hk]

You using it mainly jsut for games?
I got myself a HP and it's got integrated mic and webcam. It was sufficient cos i need it for engineering and graphic applications so i went for centrino duo 2ghz and 256mb ram. The monitor is 15" but i know they did it in smaller 14" and i think there's a smaller one too. I did get mine nearly a year ago so no doubt the prices would have dropped.
Usually it's sony and HP that have integrated mic and webcam if that's really important to you although the intergrated 1.3mp isnt that good.
Asus have started doing the integrated mic and webcam too and their webcams are nicer.
hope it helps.

[I3xzLiLChicQ]

Well you said that u wanted to buy it before the year is out so you probably got it already. If you haven't then I bought a Dell XPS M1330 and I got it a few days after Christmas. It works pretty well. It depends on what kind of games you want though. Rollercoaster tycoon and the sims 2 both work on my laptop. It's is 13.3 inches. it's about 5 pounds because I got the heavier 9cell battery but it's still pretty light. It only has a 128MB graphics card though so if you wanna do heavy gaming then this might not work for you. It's great for students though because it's light. Depending on your preferences, the screen might be small for u if you're used to larger screens. I got used to mine though and it's fine for me. it also has an integrated mic and webcam and fingerprint reader. The keyboard is a normal sized keyboard.

if you want to get it fully configured then it might come out to higher than what you want but you can get school discounts if you're in college by going to dellunleashed.com or you can wait for a good deal. You can get pre-configured ones but it might not have everything u want. It really depends on your configuration. There are also inspirons that you can get which are cheaper than XPS. just go to the dell website and check the prices out... or any other computer manufacturer websites to get an estimate of what you'll have to pay.

[vexel]

get a mac... i did... never regretted it