As my old Compaq Presario R3000 nears the end of its lifespan(I'm not having the same problem fixed for the third time in six months.), I figure that it is about time I look into getting another new computer. I set off on a search for a budget gaming laptop in the $1000-$1300 range, and came up with these two possibilities.

The first one is the Asus M51Sn-X2, which I found on Newegg. The specs can be viewed here.

The second comes from a very unexpected place. Best Buy. It is the Gateway P-6860FX, and the specs of this laptop can be viewed here.

The Gateway, which seems the better out of the two, is a bit out of my price range. I hope to catch it on sale, though, for the 4th of July.

As of now, I'm leaning toward the Gateway. The GPU in it is much better than the one in the Asus, and it is also a 17 inch model. Not to mention the fact that the only real con, the CPU, can be easily upgraded in less than 30 minutes due to the easy access on the bottom of the computer. It's also got another HDD slot, which would be useful should I ever want to go for a RAID configuration.

Does anyone have an opinion as to which of these would give me the best "Bang for the buck"? Or, maybe, you even have a better suggestion?

I was going to recommend the asus before you said you wouldn't mind swapping the CPU - but that's more expensive, remember.

Really, the GPU on the gateway gives no (or little) advantage over the asus's GPU, because they are both using relatively low-resolution screens. You'll see good numbers with either card, obviously better ones with the gateway.

If you don't mind the additional cost of the notebook and cpu upgrade (make sure the notebook can handle it thermally) then I'd say go for that one.
Otherwise, get the asus model.

I'll look for some othernotebooks in the mean time.

If u want to game alot, then go for the GATEWAY model, 8800MGTX blows away a 9500MGS, but if u want to play games @ medium settings and u dont want to use high qualities much, go for the 9500MGS, its a good midrange card