[corwin1]

Originally Posted by belaud

anything sony is garbage speaking from a tech's point of view, only their Z series are top notch.

AMD 6630 can't game anything more then League of Legends.

ASUS N53SV-QHDB1-CBIL I5-2410M 4GB 640GB 15.6in GT540M BD Combo Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Notebook - ASUS - N53SV-QHDB1-CBIL

17" version

ASUS N73SV-DH72 17.3IN FHD i7 2670QM 6GB 750GB GeForce 540 Blu Ray HDMI BT USB3.0 WIN7 Notebook - ASUS - N73SV-DH72

Samsung's top notch raptop.

Samsung NP700Z5A-S01CA Intel Core i7 2675QM 8GB 750GB 15.6in HD+ HD6750 DVDRW BT Win7 HP Notebook - Samsung - NP700Z5A-S01CA

Better alternatives are out there, avoid HP, Toshiba, Sony & Bottom line Lenovo stuff.

You completely overlooked this post about the Samsung model. Samsung has made tremendous progress in technology these days and is the direct competitor to Apple in terms of phones, tablets and laptops. You can find the NP700Z5A-S01CA at Memory Express in Richmond or NCIX. It has everything you need in a laptop and then some. It can play Diablo 3 at high settings without any problems...
Sony is crap. bottomline is this: Almost all manufacturers of laptops today get their component parts (CPU, GPU, HDD, Optical Drive, wireless ethernet card etc.) from one or two manufacturers in China, Thailand etc. It's how the company's engineers put it all together that makes the difference...design is key. Samsung has got it right and a few others have too but Sony hasn't figured it out yet...they have had some major failures in recent years and their products just aren't as reliable nowadays.
Forget Ivy Bridge CPU's... it's nothing special unless battery life is a huge factor.