MSI GT627-218US vs toshiba QOSMIO x305 vs ASUS g50vt -x1/x5

Hi, i'm new to the forum and i can't decide on a gaming laptop. i'm going away for college in about a year and i want to start prospecting on a suitable laptop for gaming and possibly engineering programs. i play left 4 dead and team fortress 2 and will play new releases such as modern warfare 2 in the near future.



-my budget limits me to about $1700

-the screen resolution is not a problem because i'm planning to bring along my 22" monitor along with me

-portability shouldn't be too much of a problem for college, 10 lbs isn't TOO much for classes, but i prefer lighter weights

-Battery left w/o the cord should be at least decent (a couple hours not gaming i guess?)

-i'd like to be able to use it for a good 4 years

-the keyboard durability should be at least acceptable; i'm bringing a keyboard along with me too

-speaker quality doesn't matter; i'll bring speakers and i wouldn't mind buying an external sound card



i don't want dell, alienware, or HP....dell and alienware have gone down in my eyes, and HP's laptops are too shiny and it's ugly



here are the choices i looked up

http://explore.toshiba.com/laptops/qosmio



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat150700...



http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=6&...



the toshiba computer is a beauty, but it's extremely bulky and heavy, and i've read that the battery life is very short when it is unplugged (compared to all the other gaming laptops' battery times, of course, which are all short anyway)



the asus g50vt x1/x5's on the bestbuy page seems like an awesome bang for my buck, and i've heard that the DDR2 is upgradable to ddr3. it's also lighter than most gaming laptops, which is a very high plus. But, i'm afraid of cooling problems and such that gaming laptops sometimes have, and i have read reviews that these two computers have flaws (crashing, a lot of "lemons" out there, etc)



the MSI seems like the most solid choice, but offers less ram (and is only ddr2). it's also the lightest among the group. i've also heard that the keyboard isn't very good, which isn't too much of a problem for me.



are there any other laptops that you would recommend?


thanks in advance!