95% sure this goes in this thread, but w/e

Anywho, I'm thinking about selling my desktop and buying a gaming laptop. I have only thought about it for today, so I will need to have more time to think about it for now. I might be able to currently sell my gaming computer online for $1200 but I also have another $100 so my budget on this will be $1300. I also need advice on what brand I should buy. I have some idea of which ones to buy and not to buy from, but still, advice on this is good. Here is the specs im looking for

Screen size - 17.3" preferred but may take 15"
ram - anything 4 GB or over
video card - Ok this one is a bit confusing to me. I need help figuring out if the gtx 570m is worth it or not over the gtx 560m.
webcam - doesnt matter
cpu - an i5 or i7 will work (not too particular as cpu doesn't really impact gaming performance since its mostly gpu)

anything else? Hmm....
oh
os - windows 7 pro preferred but will take win 7 home
bluetooth - not too particular, though would be preferred. Again, nothing that important, just nice to have
hard drive - at least 500 GB (7200 rpm preferred)
cd drive - doesnt matter, I don't watch a lot so BD wont matter

edit: my budget may be between $1300 and $1500

gamers usually prefer desktops because they can have a lot more power but laptops can be useful

Also AvaDirect has some really nice laptops for that price range

I would go with an i5 processor.  I have an i7, and it is very good at multitasking, but i5 processors are like brute force on one program.  If you want the bang for your buck, go with a i5.

I play Minecraft, the game of java resource demanding destruction!  I have some lag.  Bindernews, on the other hand, has very little lag on the i5.
(I have a desktop, and yet I carry it to school every day to...  well...  do random stuff!   )

HP= Awesome
Dell= Crashy
Chromebook= ?!?!?!?!

Also for a laptop, doesn't it also need to have very good ventilation as well to get the heat go out easier? Because if you use it intensively for gaming, get ready to get it repaired or replaced in one or fewer year. Most laptops last around 2-3 years when used regularly it seems.

However, make sure it is powerful too, because it's hard to replace the video card and stuff in a laptop if you ever need a better one in the future and your laptop still happen to work.

i have a sony, and i recommend you the same. i'm very happy with it, and work flawless

this might interest you:
SONY VPCF22S1E

$1259.99

Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM quad-core processor (2.20GHz / 3.10GHz with Turbo Boost)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
16.4" 2D LED backlit Full HD display (1920x1080)
Matte Black
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M (1GB) dedicated graphics
CD/DVD player / burner
750GB (7200rpm) hard drive
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Standard lithium-ion battery (5000mAh)

that right between your price tags, so it should fit xp

edit: i had to change a little of the hardware to get this, a 720gb hdd, 8gb ram and 1gb graph aren't standard, but this is the price with all those options included, and here is a pic:

Yep, I had lots of battery/power supply/HD repairs within a year. Don't buy HP laptops, I had bad experience with them. Also had a Dell laptop with a dead battery, although they don't seem really bad now.

I agree 100% I don't think that HP have anything like whatsoever for gaming. Dell is a joke, the alienware laptops are incredibly overpriced.

Also for a laptop, doesn't it also need to have very good ventilation as well to get the heat go out easier? Because if you use it intensively for gaming, get ready to get it repaired or replaced in one or fewer year. Most laptops last around 2-3 years when used regularly it seems.

Yes, I agree. MSI has included in their array of touch controlls the "OMG TURN ALL THE FANS TO 100%" button for overclocking

i have a sony, and i recommend you the same. i'm very happy with it, and work flawless

this might interest you:
SONY VPCF22S1E

$1259.99 .......... NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M (1GB) dedicated graphics

For me, this is rather expensive when it comes to having a card like the GT 450M. I am planning to play games like crysis 2 on ultra so for me this would be too low in specs. However, the cpu is good.. and wtf? 16.4" display? you don't see that too often

I will also take a look at sony's product line. Also, one more thing. I do rather prefer that the screen size is 17". I use a 15.3" laptop in my class and i thought it was a 13" lol.

But much and many thanks for all your suggestions and whatnot

The search continues!

edit: One more thing, I looked at custom building companies like ibuypower, cyberpower, etc. but I don't think that they focus too much on the build quality vs the customization and specs thus I tend to stay away. ibuypower to me seemed overpriced, but again thats just my opinion. Cyberpower had a good laptop choice but again, I don't think I want to buy from a custom building company

edit 2: I looked at sony's line and they only have the GTS 450 (I believe) tops. I am definitely looking into msi's line, they seem to have good features. Another factor that I want to throw in is how much you can overclock the graphics. If I do choose to buy a laptop with a 560M, I want to be able to overclock it to compensate for the money that I may not have had to buy the model with say.. the 570M.

edit 3: I believe I have found the laptop right for me at the right price: http://www.gentechpc.com/showpages.asp?pid=1101
The reason I say the right price, it includes supposedly a $100 mail in rebate and I can get a 2% student discount

Also, I looked on ratings for gentechpc, out of the first 10 pages there were only 3 ratings that wern't 5 star (and they were all resolved) so I think i found a winner

yeah, there were 2 companies I turned away from when looking at their selection of laptops - prostar and 2020pc (prostar had rude customer service reported by several reveewers and one even said that the customer service person told him that customer service isn't actually that important and 2020pc reviewers said that they didnt get their product shipped and next thing they knew it was "out of stock" and this was with SEVERAL reviews)

http://www.gentechpc.com/showpages.asp?pid=1101 looks like an interesting computer indeed. More than two inches thick seems to be a good starting point for the air flow necessary for such a beast to be reliable.