$1500 Canadian including all taxes and shipping is a tight budget if you're friend is looking to play games on it.
If they have their own copy of Windows, for gaming you can look at the Asus Z71V. 15.4" WSXGA+, 6.6lb, Pentium M 1.73GHz, 512MB ram, 60GB hard drive and 128MB 6600go for $1387 plus tax and shipping at
CanadaSys.
If they're looking for more mobility but much less graphics power, there's the Asus Z63A. 14" WXGA glossy, 5.5lb, Pentium M 1.73GHz, 512MB ram, 60GB hard drive and Intel's integrated GMA900 graphics for $1220 plus tax and shipping at CanadaSys.
Both the Asus laptops can accept an optional 6-cell optical bay battery to extend battery life.
For AMD Turion64 goodness, there's the
HP L2105CA. 14" WXGA glossy, 5.4lb, Turion 1.8GHz, 1GB ram, 80GB hard drive and integrated ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M on sale for $1399. Comes standard with only a 6-cell, so won't get as much battery life as the Z63A that has a 8-cell standard. Optional 12-cell can be purchased but it raises up the laptop at the back. The integrated Radeon is a much better performer then Intel's GMA900.
There's also a few Turion Acer laptops that are a bit over your budget but would be decent for gaming.
Acer Aspire 5024, a 15.4" WXGA laptop with a Radeon X700. Also the
Acer Travelmate 4402, another 15.4" WXGA with Radeon X700.
For a high quality work machine he might want to take a look at this
IBM Thinkpad T40p on ebay. Specs are lower then the other machines listed, but it'll be the most thin and get the most battery life. The 14" SXGA+ screen will give you the most desktop real estate for work other than the Z71V's 15.4 WSXGA+. The video card is old, but probably performs as well or better than the GMA900, and any integrated solution today will be crap for games in a year so the laptop may as well be good for work. Also, I personally think the Trackpoint is far better than a trackpad, the lack of one on my Asus Z70Va is one of the major cons I find about my laptop.
