Need a dual duty laptop:gaming inside,discrete exterior for business

Hi,

Looking for some help in selecting a laptop.

Need a laptop capable of gaming, yet discrete enough appearance to take to businesses on consulting gigs. Not expecting the very best due to budget, but looking for a solid performer. Not sure what right balance between cpu and graphics card needs to be. Currently run XP, so not sure how much of a hardware jump needed to run on Vista.

1_What is your budget?

Prefer to stay under $1300

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

14' - 15" screen. don't prefer the extra large due to air travel/weight concerns

3_What screen resolution do you want?

flexible 1024x768 min to 1280 x 1024

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

this will replace my current desktop for home use also

5_How much battery life do you need?

guessing 2-3 hours for flights. while gaming will remain on AC

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

Current play = Enemy Territory: Quake Wars; quake 4; Doom 3; Orange Box;
Future play = crysis; RAGE (not yet released); new Wolfenstein (not yet released)

min settings = medium. High settings would be nice but not required.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)

MS office, project, & visio a must for consulting duties
music, movies

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?

assuming 250-320 gb

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.

thinking of newegg.com


10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?

assuming 2-3 years min, longer if possible

11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.

Minimal graphics on cover to maintain professional exterior appearance. Subtle graphics might be ok - basic black or silverish would be best, i think.

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

familiar with ibm/lenovo and pre-hp compaq from work. ibm seemed more rugged
dell desktop was ok (2005 E510 P4 w/HT 3gb ram, video upgraded to a bfg nvidia 9600 gt oc)
thinking of ASUS laptop - have built desktops from their motherboards before, included warranty seems nice
prefer nvidia video to ati based on past desktop builds

13_What country do you live in?
USA

THX MUCH!

I was thinking T500. Business enough to be taken seriously. . . gaming enough to well, you know, hold its own-- sligtly.

I like the T500 better.