Laptop

I am toying with the idea of buying another laptop because the one I had died. I dont want to spend a lot of money so one that can run the game well is probably out of the question. Preliminary cost estimates for one that would are about $3K - $4K because thats the lowest price I can find for a good one with 512 mb video ram, unless Im just not looking in the right place.

As a minimum, I would like it to be able to run Hammer (which maybe takes more ram as well so that might be hard to do) so if I do take it somewhere I can at least play around with that and maybe learn how to use it.

Id like to spend less that $2K if thats possible, but it might not be.
Any suggestions?

check alienware.com they have notebook comps with 512 video for under $2K. Remember the most important things are screen quality, processor, and video as these are the things you can't upgrade on a notebook... take the default or go down when spec'ing other options as you can add them later. Think on things that you can get at another time or those which might give you the upgraped motherboard required. I went very cheap on my notebook and got something slimline... doesn't take much to run hammer unless you are a serious mapper that needs fast results.

custom made laptops are always best when it comes to getting performance out of them like alienware or dell. Playing HL2DM is possible if the specs right and that u are willing to reduce the graphics quality. If u intend using hl2dm while traveling u might need to carry the adapter because it will eat thro the battery charge with in a hour or more. Usually when it comes to laptops u want to get the best spec u can because as said u can't really upgrade them so if u intend to not have buy a new one within a year or two then spec high. But i doubt u will need to if u intend to just use programs like hammer. But if u are like me that uses photoshop and other resource hungry programs 2gb of ram 2ghz duel core should be enuff plus 256mb graphics card that i would say should be the minimum u should get since that what i got 2 years ago for my dell so u should aim higher for today's prices.

also get a nice screen that is fair good size anything between 15-17 is good size. also my dell came with a option to get a longer life battery charge if u get that option get it. BTW i paid £1100 for mine for today i might get it for under £800 so really it should not be to hard to get a decent laptop for little.