�600 is a healthy budget - does it have to be a lappy?
because it would buy a cracking desktop ... but only a reasonably good lappy
the next generation is already anticipating windows 7 as a 64 bit os - and 8Gb ram seems to be the new starting point ....
1.5Tb disks ... and fast graphics
mesh I have a mesh - they have excellent rep in the mags ... generally v good reviews
http://www.meshcomputers.com/
but the bottom line is that a gaming lappy is <�1000
a gaming desktop is �600+
you said you don't want a gamer specifically - but it illustrates a point ... and these are "Interesting times" second incarnation of the vista/7 kernel - 64 bit OS and more ram than you can shake a stick at
I'd wait until october - new O/s always spawns new faster hardware ... XP got P4, vista got dual/quad .....
as for warranty - I would rather put the money towards the machine - if it lasts 3 months it will live forever (a total lie I know - but I've always found it a decent guideline)
if you buy rubbish - most components will fail in the first year