which system for gaming

alright, so im coming down to zero hour when ill purchase a new laptop.
given facts are :
1) i have a genuine non gaming need for a laptop wether thin and mobile or desktop replacement i dont really care to much-im used to carrying heavy books
2) my budget is $1700-$1800 now. at the end of the summer maybe more. but generally im needing a sooner fix than 3 months more of waiting.
3) at this point in time im not comfortable using linux and or putting linux on a laptop
4) Im not afraid to wipe a hardrive and reinstall windows or any os.
5) my major games on computers are: World of Warcraft(duh ), Medieval Total war, AOEIII, and Oblivion elder scrolls. everything else (fps and such are console)
6) a few things to consider. a) while i like things like garage band i dont know honestly how much id use them as im not dishing out money for the windows equivalent and im not very good at that stuff yet. b) im fairly competant in taking care of windows. but it still refuses my TLC on a regular basis.. (registry cleaners, MSconfig, Defrag. Virus scanner, etc)
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so the builds comparison:

BUild 1ell XPS M1530- $1700

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
OS Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
LCD High Resolution glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1680x1050)
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
HARD DRIVE 200GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor
OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
WIRELESS CARDS Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
BATTERY OPTIONS 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition

Build 2-Apple MBP
• 1,799.00
• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 2GB memory
• 200GB hard drive1
• Double-layer SuperDrive
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB

Build 3(final build)- Ibuypower.com- $1614
Intel® Core 2 Duo T7700 Processor (2x 2.4GHz/4MB Cache/800FSB)
4 gigs same ram as dell
same hard drive as dell.
but a 512mb Nvdia Geforce Go 8600GT gpu.
plus MS suite is 35 dollars here, vs 149 dollars with dell.

after doing this comparison, im thinking I know the better choice.

bear in mind that i say to myself i want to start using garage band and stuff, but at new years i said i wanted to run one mile a day.. so far i dont even run to my car.. so i dont know the liklihood that i would actually use the startup programs beyond the time it takes for a new game to install.

only 5 more weeks of BJU than i can go back to COD4 and my rank of ***** with the .50call and all addons.

 

Get from here, http://gaming-pc-review.toptenreviews.com/

 

Get the MBP if you don't want to game that often (can always install Windows and use BootCamp to switch between OSX and Windows).

Or, get option the XPS - just because I like the XPS range

 

im actually thinking thats whats gonna happen. Im gonna buy a real cheap refurb ($399) laptop- which solve my genuine need for one.

and then the xps 630. It should run everything i want it too.

COD4, UNreal, Quake enemy territory, ALan wake?, some older ones-Medieval Total war 2, Obilivion, etc...

 

X2

Get the XPS for gaming and a cheap laptop with good battery life to use when you're on the go. Going with a gaming laptop will kill your battery life because of the power needed to run your powerful graphics card and processor. I have a mediocre gaming laptop and it east my battery. I see 1.5hrs max even on powersaver with the screen turned down a bit. Its a bummer in class when lecture is two hours long and I need the laptop for notes. Nice to have for the games, but doesn't cut it when I need mobility.

 

cool. what i may actually do is buy both systems as refurbed- they should both work fine, they will have the power i need for their respective uses and save me money!