Ok i know that a laptop would not be good for gaming but what do you guys think.

Some of the newer laptops are actually pretty decent for gaming. I have an HP dv9000 with a Nvida 7600GO gpu and it plays games pretty well. Wasn't terribly expensive either ($1300).

Desktops do have a big advantage in the ease of upgrade area and are in general cheaper to buy. You can also pretty easily build your own desktop. Building a laptop can be much more expensive and a lot more difficult than just buying one.

Yeh i also have an HP dv9030us and i can run oblivion on medium perfectly fine.

My thinkpad T43p (pre lenovo) can play supreme commander with the settings set to minimum, and plays at 20 fps until more than about 400 units are in game. XD

Oh, First person shooters... UT2k4 max settings. I know its not much of a stress test, but the laptop is still 3 years old. =)

The only thing I can suggest when looking for a laptop that can do some gaming, make sure the Videocard has its own discrete memory, ie the videocard doesn't share its memory with the rest of the system. It will help a lot.

As mentioned, Desktops are a lot easier to upgrade, and also they are a lot better with disapating heat, which can help with performance, and help let your equipment last a little longer (heat, the #1 enemy of engines, as well as the most common enemy of computers for that matter).

it really depends on the kind of usage the computer will have. Im a student so i need to be able to throw my laptop in my backpack whenever i want. I play CS source all the time and my laptop is 2 years old and i get about 90 fps which is pretty good. If you dont need to carry a laptop around then there really is no advantage to owning one. buy a desktop if you dont need to take your computer with u. the upgrading is key to a computer lasting through the years

To add to that, if you need to get a laptop to be mobile (as in a school environment as mentioned) do NOT get a "Desktop replacement" laptop. They are much heavier, much larger, and runs a lot hotter (sometimes too hot to put on your lap!). I know a few people still in school who have these, and one gave up bringing his into class, it was so cumbersome. These things tend to have more problems than regular laptops as well, but don't quote me completely on that.

Of course there is the Thinkpad T4x-line, which they advertise them (especially the T4xp) as workstation replacement notebooks., but still retain the lightness and portability of other laptops, but thats a different story.