Recommended Laptops?

Not an expert by any means but from what i've picked up reading posts on laptops in the forums you will need to spend more money than that if you are looking for something to be able to run games.  i believe the key is the Video/graphics capabilities.

Indeed.

You might be able to find something used--I'm writing this on a used Thinkpad T43 I got for $285, and if you're willing to bump it up to $400 or so you might be able to snag one off Ebay with the Radeon 9700 Mobility, which could probably handle Sins (even if it's not particularly well--I had a 9000 in my desktop when Sins was on its way out, and I was able to play with that).

Not a gaming laptop by any means, though.

If you are wanting to save on a medium power gaming laptop,you might want to check into a factory refurbished unit,such as LINK or LINK  Other manufacturers often offer great deals on reman/refurbed units. A google search of used  laptops will point you in the right direction.

Check out this list. I tend to agree with it.

http://bestcovery.com/node/12398

Though No.3 is imo the best gaming laptop you can get for cheap. It's an ASUS  with a GTX 260m which is deace.

just to note if you're only looking to play sins then i can play on my 3-4yr old acer travelmate. the game does quite well at the low end performance wise.

i'll post the exact model number/specs when i get home to give you an idea. i think it's 1.8ghz celeron with an intel chipset (nothing fancy).

that said, i would be inclined to agree with the others if you want to play anything more demanding.

I really appreciate the help, everyone. Thanks.

Acer or Asus do better and cheaper laptops for gaming than most, check out sites for LAN gaming and see what they are using apart from overpriced Alienware - beware of them secondhand as the warranty is tied to owner 1.

Make sure you have good ventilation and a cooler for intensive gaming on a laptop and clean out the dust bunnies often.

I'm not really looking at Acer's much, because their longevity isn't exactly great. :/

How good are Toshiba Satellites? I've been looking at one which fulfills SOASE requirements, but are they built well?

Toshibas are good solid build, very glossy all over so fingerprints galore, very good components used including harmon kardon sound.

I own a 1 year old HP G60-230US notebook and it was on sale, great computer!

I have an HP notebook with the widescreen -f or games it's the bomb, for portability not so much

Every X-mas, Birthday or other gift related holidays I've been requesting only gift cards from Fry's Electronics so I can purchase a good laptop for little cost.  I even received a $100 visa gift card for staying 5 years at my current company.  A couple times a year I will walk into a Fry's Electronics and ask them to merge the gift cards into one larger gift card.  Currently at $400.oo and still growing.   My plan is to purchase a laptop one month before Stardock's new game Elemental  is released.

I'd recommend spending at least $700 and look for an Asus. Start prowling dealnews.com daily, so you can get an idea of what prices are good on laptops. The problem you have is that no laptop for $400 has anything but an integrated graphics card, which won't run Sins.

If you can save even more, like $1000, you're in mid-range gaming laptop territory. For about that much I purchased a used Gateway P-7811fx, which has served me well to this day. Build qualtiy is horrible though.

The Asus GV50 line is really awesome and comes with overclocking features. My brother owns one and is really happy with it. You would just have to wait a bit to save up the extra money.

If you want/need the most computing power possible, go with Clevo (Sager in the U.S.).  XoticPC.com and PowerNotebooks.com are both reputable resellers.  The high-end Sager models are very expensive, but less expensive per performance measure.  You're paying for the hardware: not the brand name.