need help choosing laptop

If I may, avoid Intel integrated graphics at all costs. This includes Intel graphics Extreme, GMA 900, and GMA 950. The only graphics that are worse (for ANY gaming) are SiS.

If you want any gaming at all, especially to tide you over for the next few years, you'll have to avoid integrated graphics completely. The reason is that integrated graphics are absolutely the lowest you can get. They can barely play games that are several years old, such as Half Life 2 (Source Engine) and Quake 4 (Quake 4 or ID engine). To play today's games at mediorce performance, you'll need at least an Ati x1400 or GeForce Go 7300/7400 graphics to play at 'low' settings. If you want to be able to play tomorrows games (at all), or today's games at 'medium' settings, you'll need to step up to Ati x1600 or GeForce Go 7600 at a minimum.

The nice thing about hitting that level of graphics is that you're going to get a longer 'student' service life out of your laptop without having to worry about Windows Vista as much. Microsoft maintains that Vista will NOT run on Intel integrated graphics, and that integrated graphics of any brand are not recommended for versions higher that Vista Home Basic.

I understand the budget limitations and performance needs, I'm right there with you. Infact, I have to sell off my aging desktop to fund a laptop, and it will have to see me through the next year of gaming at the very least.

My recommendation, based on your budget, is to look closely at the Acer 5102 WLMi and the 5112 WLMI. Both are in the $900 - $1100 (US) range, and I have experience with the Acer line.

I had an Acer 5100-5022 with integrated Ati x1100 video, and it was a very fast, very responsive machine for the money ($750 US). As an avid gamer, it wasn't quite enough graphics wise so I had to return it. It was, however, a VERY solid student machine and well suited to casual gaming.

The Acer 5112 WLMi is a step up in that it has Ati x1600 graphics (albiet a bit lobotomized, with 64bit memory instead of 128 bit memory). While it is a bit under-performing as an x1600 machine, it is also priced well below other x1600-based laptops at about $1000 US, when other x1600 laptops are in the $1500 range.

The hidden value with Acer laptops is that Acer doesn't bundle a bunch of crap on their laptops. You get Windows, the Acer eMopowerment suite (which manages the hardware), and Norton Internet Security (which is on a seperate disc, and you don't have to install it if you don't want to). The 'hidden value' is that because they do not burden Windows with a bunch of other crap, the laptop runs faster. I know that this sounds a bit far-fetched, but consider this:

In November I bought an Acer Aspire 5100-5022 from WalMart for $770. Other than discovering that I needed better video after I purchased it, it was a true gem. As an example, those of you with Ati Radeons know that the Catalyst control center can take nearly a minute to open on older 32bit systems (like my desktop). On the Acer, it opened literally instantly. I had a few hiccups running games initially, but it turned out later that I needed to convert the file system from FAT32 to NTFS and make a few other minute changes.

When I returned the Acer, I purchased an HP dv6000, which proved to be a mistake. By way of comparison, the Acer and the Hp had the same processor and RAM, and the HP had a faster (yet smaller hard drive) and better video (HP had 128 dedicated and 128 shared, the Acer had just 128 shared). The HP was WAY slower when working in Windows - nearly as slow as my Athlon XP 3200+ desktop (32 bit, single processor system). The reason was the sheer amount of extra crap that HP had preinstalled on the system. Even after removing the extra software, the HP was still noticably slower.

I know that I've posted the above remarks in other threads, but I feel that it has to be said.

If you want an excellent sub-$1000 laptop, the Acer 5112 WLMI is a very good deal when you can get it that cheap. I'd try Newegg and TigerDirect. If you can't get the 5112 for the price you want, get the 5102 - just be careful, as there are numerous versions of both of them. Some have more memory, some have bigger hard drives - just watch the details.

Good hunting,
Slavens