If you want something that can play games with nice visuals you can't go wrong with an Alienware. They make amazing machines and I haven't had any problem with the few laptops the boy and I have both had from them.
If you want something nice I'd just get the fastest dual core processor you can afford (2.0 GHz was sufficient for me), the largest harddrive that spins at 7200RPM (fuck the 5400s) --I got a 100GB because the prices go up a lot from there and I can always replace it on my own with a cheaper one later, you want at least a 256MB graphics card bare minimum --if you can get one thats a 512MB and it will be "top of the line" a bit longer plus look bitchin, memory should be at least 1GB DDR2 (512mb is NOT enough these days by any means) and that should be a sufficient amount --you can always add more later which is actually a cheaper route. Depending on the games you play you might want 2GB. You should be able to get all of this in the under 2k range. This would be definitely sufficient for gaming and surfing the internet at lightening speeds. It would be able to handle movies if you added at DVD drive which shouldn't be expensive at all.
I'd recommend this one:
http://www.alienware.com/configurato...de=SKU-DEFAULT
I use that as my little road warrior. Its a 15.4 like the others you posted. Keep in mind though that its battery life is a little under 2 hours but if you are mostly keeping it at home it will be perfect. Alienware also makes some larger laptops if you want to go bigger than that. I know they sound like nerd machines but I like them because they are so durable and well made since they have geeks in mind as their consumers. You can only order them online and they are not availible in stores. Also, you can customize the living crap out of them.
I'm wary of Fry's personally. It seems like a lot of their equipment is dated and they usually are behind on the latest technology --but that comes with the territory of being the cheapest.
If you care about gaming look for the graphics card first. The Vaio you posted only has an Intel x3100 which is kind of a weak graphics card. It could handle older games though. Depends on what you play. Its an on board graphics card and you'll want one thats dedicated if you want any sort of power (Intel and Vaio both blow anyways from my experience).
The Fujitsu is pretty weak too.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131631/article.html. I think that says it all.
Sorry I'm such a laptop geek. I could ramble on forever. I think you could get a really bitchin one for under 2k since it sounds like you don't need all the bells and whistles but just some power decent behind it.
I love talking about this stuff if you have any other questions.
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