What's the best gaming laptop for 1,700 dollars?

I need a gaming laptop that can play Battlefield 3 on high settings (if possible). And maybe Skyrim on Ultra. I can't spend more than 1,800 dollars. Doesn't matter what the brand is, as long as the computer is good and I can buy it online. I'm looking for around 3-4+ hours of battery life. Thank you all in advance!

This topic has been moved from the section Systems to section Laptops & Notebooks by Mousemonkey

Yes, Brett928S2, we know...answer the question.

First, the bad news - no laptop that can play BF3 on high will last 3-4 hours unplugged gaming. If you are just browsing/typing, you may get that on a monster, but not gaming.

Second, the good news - you can average ~40fps with a 580M according to this: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graph [...] any-2-Deus (The 6990M may also work, and some laptops have SLI'd 560Ms, which should also handle it at about that level).

Now, which laptop...

Well, the Alienware M17x is $1824 with either the 580M or 6990M -
http://configure.us.dell.com/dells [...] re-m17x-r3

Sager on the other hand...

Has the NP8170 with the 6990M starting at $1594:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index [...] ame=NP8170

Or the 18" NP8180 for $1799 with SLI'd 560Ms...
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index [...] ame=NP8180

What about the Republic of Gamers series by Asus? Any opinions?

http://www.xoticpc.com/ is a website where you can look over custom gaming laptops with Asus, MSI or Sager options that have the GTX 560M and higher graphics cards in your price range.