[raid517]

Hi I have decided I like laptops much more than I like Desktop PC's. They are just so much more fun to us and nicer to look at.

Anyway, the thing is my current and newest laptop is pretty neat - X1400 graphics chip, Intel core duo 1600MHZ processor, 1024MB of RAM 100GB hard drive etc. but the problem is that it's not brilliant for gaming. I mean it's OK. It's passable and it can play most of the games I have thrown at it... But it definitely could be better. I thought an X1400 chip should be fine... But it turns out that even a little desktop Radeon 9500 card can beat it in 3Dmark.

My expectations are hopefully not too unrealistic. If I buy another laptop, I am looking for something that should be able to handle most modern games - and hopefully allow for upgrading - particularly of the CPU. The thing that's bugging me about my current laptop is that I can't upgrade the CPU. I can upgrade the memory and the hard drive but not the CPU.

Or do you guys think that maybe it is a bad time right now to be buying new laptops, what with the upcoming release of Vista? (And of direct X 10). Also speaking of directX 10 the only chip that I know can run this is the GeForce 8800 - and that hasn't even been released yet. And this card is likely to be a beast - which also needs watercooling in order for it to be able to run.

How long do you guys think it will be before we see Vista/DirectX 10 compatible laptops? Are we talking about months? Years?

All input is welcome.