Gaming Laptop and Desktop Replacement Advice - Feb, 2012

Hello everyone, i'm about to sell my desktop and move to a laptop-only environment =)!

My uses are limited to the basics (e-mail, downloads etc) and pretty hardcore gaming.  I typically play 3 hours a night and a lot more on weekends.  I plan to have the laptop plugged into the wall, so battery life will not be an issue.  Games are things like WoW, Aion, and eventually Diablo 3 and likely whatever FOTM MMORPG hits next. 

I've spent the last few weeks looking over every gaming laptop site and i can find, and it looks like every site has a different review, and most are very dated =(

I like big screens.  I like max settings.  I'll use a cooling pad.  I'd like to spend ~2 grand, less is fine, and in no event more than 3 grand.  The longer it lasts the better, but a handful of years is what i'd expect at that price.

Any suggestions would be welcome!  It seems like Alienware uses good stuff, but its heavy and overpriced.  Asus looks promising, but there are SO many brands that i just dont know what to trust.

Please feel free to ask any questions if i missed anything, and thank you SO much for reading!

Sager/Clevo do have some models which look like what i'd be in the market for, i think the clevo 180 and sager 8180 if i recall specifically. 

Two issues that have come up are build quality and the specific seller.

I've read that purchasing from a reseller like avadirect or amazon is cheaper (makes sense, appears true) AND has better customer service.  Is there a reason that works?  Is there a trade off i'm missing, or is it really just mass-sold to amazon and thus price reduction for Sager not having to deal with customers as often directly?

Towards build quality, a lot of the products scare me.  Technical specs i can do, but screen quality, component interactions, etc are scary.  I'm assuming Sager/Clevo won't disappoint??

Thanks!