Instead of just telling you which one to get (like some people... AHEM), lets break it down for each of the notebooks.
First off, the Dell 9300. It's a 17", and the weight starts at about 8.1lbs, fully loaded. Overall, its not all that heavy for a 17 incher, so while portability is not its strong point, it'll do for moving around. Traveling to and from work, class, or whatever, will probably be a bit of a pain, especially with the travel brick. The high-end Geforce 6800 Go will obviously not disappoint with games, and you can get it fully loaded with 1gb of RAM, 1.73ghz processor, and all the dressings for about $2100. Should you decide to upgrade to, say, a 2.0ghz processor, it's an extra $200--not that bad. Plus, the screen comes in two versions: XGA or UXGA, which leaves out the middleman--SXGA. So either you're going to get everything very big onscreen (XGA+), or very small (UXGA). The jump will be fairly massive, so if you have eye problems, you're going to have to settle for the XGA+.
Next up is the Asus W2V. The main difference is definitely going to be the graphics card... the X700 in the W2V simply doesn't compare with the power of the 6800 Go in the Dell 9300. As such, you're going to be buying this laptop for two reasons: the case design or the TV tuner. However, while the 9300 can be had with the TV tuner and remote for only $170 extra, the 9300 still wins the price race, especially should you purchase during a 30-40% off sale.The Asus W2V can be had for $2,599, while the Dell 9300 (spec'ed exactly the same, minus the Go 6800) can be purchased for
under $2,000. Some added bonuses for the Asus are the built in Bluetooth and the slot loading drive, both of which still place the W2V at under 7.5lbs. I, however, don't feel this makes up for the price difference.
Finally, we come to the Toshiba G25--which is another beast entirely. For one, its substantially heavier than the other two notebooks, starting at around 9.5lbs. With that, however, you get
two hard drives, making for a total of 120gb (2x60gb). However, you only get a WXGA screen, which is disappointing considerint the UXGA on the 9300, and the SXGA+ on the W2V. Even more disappointing is the 6600 Go that's included, which makes it similar to the Asus in that it doesn't quite match up to the 9300's 6800 Go. Besides that, there are really no outstanding features about this laptop that make it more recommended than the other two. Plus, its definitely the MOST expensive, clocking in at a whopping $3,000 or more.
After looking through all the specs myself, I have to agree; the Dell i9300 is definitely the smartest choice, both performance and price wise. None of the video cards beat out the Dell's 6800 Go, and you can load the 9300 with a lot more (2gb of RAM, 100gb hard drive, etc.) and still remain cheaper than the other two. Of course, those are WITH coupons, which are fairly frequent provided you have the time. If not, the Asus W2V is a fairly close second, with the Qosmio in third--and pretty far back, considering the lack of features and the extremely high price.
Anyways, I hope this helps, and if there were any mistakes, feel free to point them out!
But a note to you, Lethal... its your laptop, so while others may scoff at looks and such, YOU are the one who will be looking at it. Ignoring looks is like ignoring a core feature of the laptop, and since all three laptops provide very, very different visuals, make sure you choose one that you'd feel comfortable with.
Good luck!
Lol, half-joking about that American thing, but Dell US customers can get i9300's for way cheaper than that, even "fully-spec'd". Maybe if you go with the outrageous 1GB Dell upgrade (seems like everyone just gets a minimal amount of RAM and gets a stick of 1GB RAM from newegg) AND a 4 year warranty, and then max out the CPU, etc., before applying the common $750 USD off coupons, then you could reach $2100 USD, but that's kind of over doing it. Btw, the WUXGA on 17" isn't THAT tiny. I use it @ 96dpi and normal icon and text sizes in Dell QuickSet (basically the natural, smallest sizes), and I find it quite nice. It's a tiny bit smaller (133 dpi) than the WSXGA+ on a 15.4" (129 dpi).
