Recommendations on laptops

[PFCWintergreen]

My parents have offered me a laptop for graduating from university, so I've been running around to various websites checking out prices and what's available. Through my dad's work I can get a discount on Dell, though I don't know how much.

At any rate, I was looking and found that the video cards in notebooks tend to be less powerful (obviously), but was wondering if anyone knew of any sites that had benchmarks for comparison? I've seen the 7300-7800 Go at Dell but have no idea if they're really worth getting. I obviously like to game, but I'm slightly conflicted about the laptop idea for gaming, because if the graphics card is worlds behind the desktop versions then I'm not sure I'd bother with it and just get a much more tuned down laptop for general web use instead.

Now my current PC is a 1900+ with a 9700 Pro and 512MB so I'm sure any upgrade would be worlds better, but at the same time I don't want to go C2D with tons of ram if the graphics card isn't also as comparatively good.

Anyway, can someone throw some performance numbers at me? It would be much appreciated

 

[cheesehead]

The 7800 performs nearly as well as the desktop version. As a rule of thumb, you're going to be limited by your graphics card more than anything else regardless of platform; a dual-core 1.86 ghz Pentium M should do you fine. 1GB of RAM is a nice amount, although a second gig is always good.

I would reccomend considering a less-expensive laptop and a new, inexpensive desktop. You can get a decent PC for playing games for below 500$ (assuming that you're willing to overclock; the 1.6ghz Sempron processors sold by AMD can easily do 2.2 ghz), and a high-quality laptop for about 1000$.
The MacBook Pro is a sweet laptop that can game pretty well, although not as well as Dell's offerings. However, I have had nasty experiences with Dell, and almost all universities have a discount on Macintosh; expect to save 100$-150$. Remember, the new MacBooks can run windows.
The standard MacBook is a nice option if you want a seperate gaming PC. It's fast, and of higher quality than much of Dell's offerings. I own a subnotebook (3.4 lbs.) and I'm getting an El Cheap gaming rig that I don't need to depend on for work; I highly reccomend you do the same, as upgrading a desktop is always easier and cheaper.

 

[PFCWintergreen]

That would be a good consideration, but I'm looking to head overseas in the near future, which is where the laptop comes in handy

 

[imported_haris]

You can try using http://service.futuremark.com/orb/ I think you have to create an account, but you can do a search based on several different criteria. Keep in mind that the benchmark results are just artificial benchmarks, not actual game play FPS.

I'd agree with cheesehead if gaming is an absolute must. It's still 1000x easier to upgrade a video card on a desktop machine after a year or two. My laptop although it was great when I got, has really been showing it's gaming age due to the mobility 9600 with 64MB of memory. That said, you might still be happy with any laptop that comes with a decent card to start.

Good luck deciding.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Laptop Gaming benchmarks:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=37