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So me and the wife figure it's time to upgrade our current laptop, which we will then pass down to our daughter. The question is: what brand? I have some basic specs but thought I'd get the geek opinion as well.
It's mostly for browsing the intraweb, but would like to do some movie capture/edit/burn to DVD. Get all those videos taken with the video recorder burned to DVD. I'm looking dual core 2, a good graphics card (prob 256MB), 1 GB of memory and at least an 80GB 7200rpm drive. I'd like to do some gaming on it, like Battlefield 2142 and such. I actually got an Alienware laptop down into my price range with pretty much the specs I wanted, but not sure if that's the way to go or not. The biggest problem I see with the Alienware laptops is no docking station. I'd like to go that route for gaming. Anyway, anyone have any opinions on brand, where to get it, why, etc? I'm thining $2000 or less (preferrably less ).

I'm not a huge fan of any brand of notebook, but if you're looking for options:

Gateway NX860XL $1,749.99

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 (2.00GHz, 667MHz FSB, 4MB L2 Cache)
• Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium (32-bit)
• 2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-1024MB modules)
• 80GB 7200rpm Serial ATA hard drive
• 17.1" WUXGA TFT Active Matrix (1920 x 1200 max. resolution) (requires Intel
• 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N wireless)
• 8x Multi-Format Double Layer DVD Writer (DVD±R/±RW/CD-RW)
• Integrated Intel® 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N Wireless Networking (for Genuine Windows® Vista™)
• NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS Graphics w/ 256MB DDR Video Memory
• 120 Watt AC Adapter
• Microsoft® Works 8.54
• Cyberlink Power2Go (Download only)
• Primary 8-Cell Lithium Ion Battery w/ 1 Yr. limited battery warranty1
• Bluetooth Wireless Networking Module6
• Intel WLAN to Bluetooth Cabling

That would play games and do everything else.

You can also get a docking station (they call it a port replicator) for another $179

I just got a Dell D820...

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7400 (2.16GHz) 4M L2 Cache, 667Mhz Dual Core
LCD PANEL: 15.4 inch Wide Screen WUXGA LCD Panel
MEMORY: 4.0GB, DDR2-533 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
HARD DRIVE: 100GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM
OPTICAL DRIVE: 8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio Digital Media™ and Cyberlink Power DVD™
VIDEO CARD: 512MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 120M TurboCache™

Granted this is my work laptop so I didn't pay for it and would be hard pressed to drop 2600-3000 on a laptop but the Evil Empire definitely does right by me

Yeah, sounds like a sweet machine, unfortunately out of my price range.

Bio's suggestion is a little more in my range. Hadn't thought of Gateway.

Don't know any specs, but look at IBM. I've had great luck with the ones I had at work.

The Dell I have is kind of finicky about some things.