Buying A Cheap Laptop That Can Still Perform. Stuck Between Hp And Toshiba?

I’m a student so it is mainly going to be just internet and word processor. I am debating about maybe a graphic card upgrade in case i decide to put a game or two on it later. I don’t really know which company to go for, i want it to last. I’ve been told to steer clear of gateway and dell so I think I have it narrowed down to Toshiba, HP or Acer. I don’t know who makes a more reliable product. As far as processors go, is Intel better then the AMD?
a couple iv’e been looking at: most are 17″ but i might go 16http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?…http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?…http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?…http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?…

Is The Dell Xps M1730 Still A Good Gaming Laptop These Days?

This is the spec of the one I am hoping to buy.
Base:
Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Processor X9000 (2.80GHz, 800MHz FSB, 6MB L2-cache)
Microsoft Operating System:
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1- English
LCD:
17.0″ UltraSharp™ WUXGA (1920×1200) TFT with TrueLife™ with Integrated 2.0MP web cam
Video Card:
DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTX card
Memory:
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
Hard Drive:
400GB Free Fall Sensor Raid 0 Stripe – 2 X 200GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive
Optical Devices:
Blu-ray Disc DVD+/-RW Optical Drive including software
Would this laptop be able to play games such as Call of Duty 5, Crysis and Gears of War, games like that? Also, is it good value for money?