Half decent, cheapish, gaming laptop

[Bobster]

Hello.

Can anyone offer any recommendations:
A freind of mine is looking for a new laptop, she is mainly going to be using it for Internet, Office type stuff, but she is also a "The Sims" addict.
She is wanting it to run The Sims 3.

The Sims 3, from what i can find will require the following:

THE SIMS 3 MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

FOR WINDOWS XP
* Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
* 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
* 1 GB RAM
* At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
* 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

FOR WINDOWS VISTA
* Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)
* 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
* 1.5 GB RAM
* At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
* 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least:
* Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above.
* 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
* 0.5 GB additional RAM

I have been looking at the Asus X59GL which seems to come highly recommended. The only trouble with this laptop is the lack of dedicated graphics card (will the sims be that graphics intensive? i've never played it)

So, is there any other i should be looking at. Price wise, i'm not too sure, i told her about the price of the Asus, and she said something like "wow that not too bad, i thought they would be more" so, there may at a push £450 - £550.

Any pointers would be great.

Bobster.

 

[Bobster]

Dell Inspiron/Studio?

Thanks for that, i've just spec'ed up a decent Inspiron 15 for £629. I'll have a check to see if it's within budget.

Are Dell laptops good? I know from a few years back my IT manager hated them as they were just made up of random parts and hard to upgrade. Have things changed?