Need some help choosing

I'm thinking about buying a leptop soon, and I just can't decide on what to get. I'm looking for something under $800, but that will run World of Warcraft - not spectacularly, but at least basically. 512 RAM, 40gb min hdd, and at least a 1.7 celeron. I'd prefer an AMD processor, just because I like AMD more. I'm looking at a Dell right now, or an Acer, but just can't decide. I'd like either a GMA950, Radeon 1100, Radeon 200M, or Geforce 6150 Graphics set. Thanks a lot for any suggestions!
-Connor

hi,
have you looked at the older pentium models? some of those are about your price range. they had graphic cards, too. not sure where i saw them.

can wow really run on just 512 ram? thats very little, i am surprised. thats probably the next game my kids will want.

suzy

I had an Acer 5100-5022 that would fiit your bill perfectly.
It has:
AMD Turion X2 TL50 @ 1.66GHz
1GB DDR2
100GB hard drive
ATI x1100 video (128mb shared)
Dual Layer DVD burner with DVD-RAM support (DVD-RAM works like a hard drive)

Don't laugh, but I bought it at Walmart for $769 before x-Mas. The 2 year, drop-it-off-the-table-and-pour-a-beer-in-it warranty was another $68.

It's a long story, but I had to take it back (no fault of the laptop) and pruchased an HP dv6113, which I returned for piss-poor customer service.

To make a long story VERY short, the Acer and the HP had nearly identical specs - same processor, similar video (nvidia geforce 6100 128mb dedicated, 128 shared), same RAM, similar hard drive..... The Acer flat blew the HP away, and for $300 less. The Acer had NO extra crap preinstalled. It was just Windows Media Center Edition, Acer eMpower apps for power management and video stuff. Even Norton Internet security was on a seperate CD. Like nearly all laptops sold today, you have to create your own recover DVDs (1 DVD and 10% of a second) but on the Acer it only takes about 20 minutes to be up and runnig.

The HP had more crap preinstalled than I care to remember. It took over two hours to burn the 3 recovery DVDs and remove all the extra crap. I returned the HP because even after I removed everything but Windows and the hardware drivers it was incredibly slow. Three days and fourteen printed pages of email later, all HP had to say was "If the performance is such an issue, perhaps you should return the laptop"

I've been all over the major laptop sites lately trying to find the best performer at the lowest price, and the Acer 5100-5022 is tops for the money. For those who would tell you that Acer is a small player, they're not - they are the third largest computer manufacturer in the world. Even HP/Compac, Gateway, Apple, and others contract other companies to build their laptops. The only three companies that sell complete laptops that they manufacture (as far as I'm aware) are Asus, MSI, and Acer.