I think he meant well Spec-ed (specifications)
From my experience dell has the cheapest, most graphic capable laptops. They don’t offer it on the website anymore (because they just came out with a new duel core version) but the inspiron 9300 is just about the most powerful, most upgradeable (rare with laptops), and well priced notebook around.
It has the same parts as their overpriced XPS line except a "weaker" graphics card which comes in two versions; the x300 and the 6800go. The x300 is slower and will run older games like FS2004 but probably not at high settings. The 6800go will smoke some desktops, and both are upgradeable. (I have a 6800go and can play every game on the market with max settings, while my girlfriend has the x300 and can play exery game on medium-low settings). It’s kind of big (17in screen) but a larger laptop is probably the only way you will be able to run graphically intense games.
Plus the mother board is both processor upgradeable, and GPU (graphics) upgradeable. That means if you really wanted, when flight sim X comes out, you could run it at maxed settings if you upgraded to the 7800go graphics card (about $260 us, which is cheaper than it would be to put in a desktop
). You probably wouldnt, but its nice to know that you can. The 6800go will still be able to run it almost maxed.
Dell just stopped selling this specific model retail, so you would have to look online at eBay or elsewhere. I’m sure electronics stores still have plenty of stock. You can probably find one for around 1400 US, Just make sure you get the version with a 6800go graphics card and you should be good.
Dell still does however offer the 6000d model online which is smaller and comes with the x300 graphics card, but it is not upgradible.
Alienware and Sager also offer similar machines for about twice the price.
Some general advice on purchasing a laptop:
The processor and graphics speed are most likely non upgradeable (they will become less useful in the future) so go for a more powerful processor over a big hard drive or memory.
Buy the least amount of system memory from the retailer: it’s over priced, you can find it cheaper at places like
www.crucial.com and it’s very easy to install yourself.
Same goes for the hard drive: if you buy it separately its MUCHH cheaper (also not too hard to install)
Hope that helps, Aaron