Info on laptop brands and specs

Hi there, I'm buying a new laptop in the next couple days, from the store that I work at. We seem to carry mainly Acer, HP, and Toshiba laptops. Which of these 3 brands is better? And, running Vista, what is recommended for playing games like Oblivion, WOW, Warcraft III, C&C3, Age of Empires 3, the games in The Orange Box (Portal, Team Fortress 2, Half Life 2, Half Life 2 Ep 1 and 2)? I'm limited to Vista as that's what all the computers in my store run on. (Yay for employee discounts)

 

Well how much do you want to spend?

I would aim for a Core 2 Duo....at least 2Gb of DDR2 667 RAM and a stand alone dedicated Video Card. Here is one but it expensive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114447

Give an idea of budget and maybe some can provide some good suggestions.

 

For gaming, the most important criterion is to have a video card with dedicated memory; shared memory just won't cut it.
Of the brands you listed, Acer provides the most bang for your buck; though you may want to find out about special ordering one with XP. XP will absolutely scream on new hardware; but, since Vista wants 3 times as much hardware.......
Before you commit to an employee discout, this Dell Vostro 1500 has 2GB of memory, a 120GB hard drive, DVD burner, AND comes with XP for $494.00. Upgrade the video to a 256MB Nvidia 8600M GT and it jumps to $644: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=bqdwksd&s=bsd

 

I've very happy with my Toshiba, it came with Vista (2GB Ram) and has not given me any problems. Its current graphics config would not allow me to run any of the games you listed.

 

I don't know too much about laptops. What exactly is required to add a new videocard? Would an ExpressCard slot cut it? This is the one that I have my eyes on right now.

It's the Acer 6920 with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5550 (1.83 GHz, 2MB cache), 3072MB DDR2 RAM, 250GB har drive 5400RPM, 16 inch screen with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, the only thing that I don't like about it is it only has the Intel GMA 3100 graphics card; but it has the Express Card slot. It would cost me $781.

 

Unfortunately; and expesscard slot won't let you replace the GMA3100, so no.
I had left my earlier post at 2GB because the ram will then be matched, allowing the full DDR2 capabilities.
Did you see my link to a new Dell WITH the NVIDIA 8600 for $644?

P.S. In a laptop, the first requirement is that the guts have a place to put a video card; most don't

 

So Halo, what do you think of the Vostro 1500 I listed with Core 2, 2GB Ram, 120G HDD, DVD/RW, XP (Not Vista), and the NVidia 8600M-256MB for $644?

 

If the OP (original poster?) is getting a loan from his employer for the purchase, I guess we are stuck with what he can get at the store; but, if he's just plain buying it, then it seems to me all options are open, especially if its way more system for $100 less.
Yes, I like Acer's too and, in the retail market, they offer some of the best deals.
I will; however, add a few thoughts.....
Everybody's tech support s*cks. Even if it hasn't been outsourced to someplace where just speaking is a major problem, people are calling someone who has had very limited training in customer service that is simply entering what they think has been asked into a computer. Ask the wrong question and you won't even be headed towards a solution!
All of the major manufacturers now produce products of equal quality. HP, Compaq, Gateway, E-Machines, Acer, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, and so on, have all been bitten by what happens when they produce cheap hardware which is far costlier to support so they take great pains not to do it again.
With those two caveats, then, the shopping task is to compare whats "under the hood" in order to find the best value.
Vista, BTW, needs 2-3 times more hardware in order to give the same percieved performance. Most XP (not gaming) computers will be quite happy with 512MB of ram; Vista needs at least 1.5GB and the demands on the rest of the system are just as escalated.

On the importance of a dedicated video card, I have the perfect scenario. I just built my daughter a new system with an AMD 3500+ and a Gigabyte M61P-S3 system board. I then got her Guitar Hero III and found, to my chagrin, that the game was completely unplayable. Strum the guitar and it got to the screen 1/2 a second later. Luckilly, I had an NVidia 7600 card I could put into the system which instantly fixed the problem. The real source of the issue wasn't that the built in NVidia 6100 wasn't up to the game; but that the shared memory prevents the computer from doing things while the chip renders the screen. All of the games listed in the original post are going to be similarly crippled without a dedicated video.