Well, I wouldn't need to buy a cheaper notebook for surfing, older games and work, because I already own a Toshiba Satellite and it works great for that stuff. The reason I want a new laptop is because I want to be able to game anywhere with it. I don't want to be restricted to sitting at a desk to play, I want to take it to bed with me and play while in bed, or go downstairs with it and hook it to my dad's LCD TV to play movies, etc. A desktop is too restricting for me.

I'm thinking my best bet is what you said Gorath. Just pick a powerful laptop, stuff it with RAM and pretty much get as much in it as I can for my budget, and just go with it. Hope it keeps up for a decent amount of time and then just make compromises when that time comes, and maybe even upgrade things like the RAM or the video card if I'm able to.