If you're looking to save a few $, then get a refurb over a new one(if you'll consider brand names such as Dell, Compaq/HP). They have the same basic warranty as a new one, but have been fixed, and hand-tested.
Where I work everyone has Dell laptops, and they're OK for business use, some problems with batteries, but Dell has been fairly responsive getting issues resolved. I'm not a fan of Dell desktops, but the laptops have been good, and they offer the XPS gaming laptops with decent video cards. I bought a Dell for personal use, although not an XPS, it doesn't play TF2 at more than 8 FPS, but it's a decent laptop. On the
Dell Outlet site, you can look at the stock of refurbs and warranties, and compare to their normal site, saving up to 50% off of a new one.
HP has their outlet store as well, but I had to spend more time in comparison to find the laptop features I was looking for, and not much for gaming or high-end graphics.
Cyberpower has had some decent stuff I've helped others get, and customize for gaming, but I've only helped with 3 desktops and 1 laptop there.
And then there is
Alienware, which although they build some fast PC's, their proud of them, and you pay a premium for the alien logo, and they're basically associated with Dell now(I don't know if Dell owns them or not).
If the laptop has nVidia video cards, I would suggest nothing lower than 8700 series, dual if possible to keep framerates high as they scale down a bit to reduce heat on laptops. If it has ATI, the HD3870's and above do well in most new games, I don't know about the HD 2000 series cards in laptops although I see a lot being sold. Avoid the shared Video/system memory laptops, they don't play new games well at all(I have one).
Help on getting a new laptop!
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