Price:
$1999

BUY IT HERE

The skinny:
Gateway's surprisingly affordable new rig is packing enough firepower to satisfy even the most hardcore entertainment junkies.

The good:
Get ready, there's a lot. The Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB RAM combo are good enough that they show off how Vista is supposed to run on a capable machine. The hard drives (two 7200 RPM 160GB drive in a RAID 0 configuration) are incredibly fast and responsive, which is great for gaming and video editing. The NVIDIA GeForce Go 8800M GTS is more than enough firepower, even for gamers, and it ran Unreal Tournament III without a hitch. Unfortunately, it couldn't help the fact that I totally suck at it. The 17-inch screen looks great at 1920 x 1200, assuming that you can find enough HD content to put on it. Also, you have to give it credit for being a capable gaming machine without feeling the need to attach 65,000 neon lights all over the place. It ran exceptionally cool, enough so that you can use it on your lap without worrying about frying up your sperm like some kind of sick, reproductive stir fry.