Hello everyone.   Could not find where to put this question so i figured homebuilt was the best place.   Next year i will be in law school and i need a laptop. I would also like to be able to play games. Would it be smarter for me to get a powerful laptop to play games (like macbook pro with windows) or to get a smaller cheaper laptop and build my own desktop for games?
 
In either case I will probably spend about 2500.  So it would most likely be either macbook pro     or small laptop (with integrated graphics) and a small factor form i would build myself.
 
Any advice is helpful.  Thanks

MACBOOK PRO FTW!!!

putting windows on a mac book would just make it a pc notebook.

 
it still has mac os x on it, and mac os x pwns all (except for gaming)

He didnt really say anything about dual booting im assuming he ment just loading windows on it..
 
And i have yet to see anything that backs up the clame mac os is better for anything.
 
Now if thats what hes going to do then i would just go buy the best lap top he can with the most ram and best video card and not have to put up with the stupid looks of a mac and loading windows on it when he can get it all pre installed. Not to mention buying windows assuming he wants a legal copy.

I'd look at the Dell XPS M1710 laptop.  It is smokin at games (better than good desktops) and will perform great for anything else.  It can even use 2 external monitors at once - 1 digital & 1 analog (I tested this myself on a friend's M1710), so it is fully usable as a desktop when you come home even if you have high expectations.  The machine is very sexy (customizable case lights along a spectrum - not a choice of a few colors, 3 whole spectrums), and performs well for apps + games (9118 3DMark05 and 5518 PCMark05).
 
Jo

well this is the thing.  I don't want a massive laptop to lug around  so the macbookpro is pretty portable and powerful. I would dual boot.     The only reason im considering getting a cheaper laptop with a desktop is because i want to be able to run direct x 10 games and vista   and i don't know if there is any laptop that can do that, but is also small enough to be portable.

 
The Macbook Pro is going to hinder your efforts in one area. The X1600XT video card is not the best in the world. Hell it can barely run Oblivion at 1024x768 ...
 
If you are buying it to put windows on it, you are overpaying around $800-900 over what Dell offfers you. Sure the Macbook Pro looks sexy but is it worth that much? If you want to run OS X, and think OS X is worth $800, MBP is nice machine.
 
I agree with the other poster, look at the XPS laptops which offer real video cards, not a half-baked X1600 solution that was not too hot to start with.

Do not buy a laptop.
 
Get a Desktop Replacement machine. That'll kick ass with DX10 and still be able to be moved from place to place, albeit in a big heavy bag.

I have an XPS and it rocks, not as well as my desktop but still more than good enough to play anything except oblivion at this time.
 
The XPS series also come with a specially designed back pack for it, pretty heavy you're right but you also don't need to get a separate monitor for it because the one that comes with it is huge.