Any models suitable for gaming?

[PsychBiller]

I need to buy a gaming laptop for my teenager that will last through four years of high school. Having always loved my T40 (still going after six years), I thought of Lenovo. I've used Dell, Toshiba, Compaq, and HP, and I just keep coming back to the ThinkPad.

Consumer laptops are usually loaded up with so much crapware that you nearly have to reinstall the OS to strip out the junk. It can be hard to get a warranty longer than a year, much less the ability to speak with someone based in the U.S.

Are there any Lenovos or ThinkPads that could be considered suitable for gaming, and configurable with enough horsepower and RAM to last four year?

Thanks for your recommendations.

[rossmosis]

thinkpads werent really made with gaming in mind. that being said, you'd probably want to get a good graphics card, not the Intel HD one if you wanted good gaming performance. i have the integrated intel HD thing, and i dont really play games, except for GTA San Andreas online (it's an aftermarket modification to the actual game, pretty cool actually) and it runs flawlessly, i even brought up the trailer to Avatar in HD like 15 times on google chrome in the background and it was still playable! i have the L512 with the i5 and 4 gigs of ram

[wgg]

One of the X-series would be good if it will be used in High school and for gaming you coulduse an external monitor but as mentioned before thinkpads are not really for gaming unless you are willing to do some upgrades.

[PsychBiller]

Do you mean upgrades specified while configuring and purchasing the system? I'm certainly willing to do that.

[RealBlackStuff]

As mentioned before, no Thinkpads are really suited for gaming.
Have a look at the competition: http://computers.toptenreviews.com/gaming-laptops/
It's not up to me to say really, but I do it anyway: when they go to college they should have other things (than gaming) on their minds!
With that in mind, see also: http://forums.cnet.com/5208-19687_102-0 ... dID=285621

[ZaZ]

Anything you buy today, even if it has very good specs, is going to be old in four years. That's just the reality of buying PCs/notebooks these days. I don't know what you're looking to spend, but perhaps as an alternate strategy to dropping $1500 on a notebook now, you could take half the money and buy something like the T500 with the 3650, which is probably the best gaming Thinkpad. I'm guessing you could probably get one on ebay or maybe the outlet in the $700-800 range. Then if in two or three years it's not cutting it any longer you could sell it and take the other half of the money and buy something else, which will most likely be better than what's being offered now.

[wgg]

YOu have been given some very good advice so follow it!

[PsychBiller]

Thank you for all the thoughtful input!