I Loooove my HP lappy. It's ~1.5 years old, but still doin great. Still holds a nearly full charge. This laptop is (probably) the cheapest lappy HP has ever built, and it has served me great. Anyone had issues with their 2308WM?
I can whole heartedly recommend a HP notebook.
Being a Gamer yourself I shouldn't have to tell you this, but I will. Get something dual core with discrete graphics. XPS sounds like a good option, i would imagine you could possibly upgrade the graphics down the road. Don't quote me on that.
Edit: The XPSs are fuggin EXPENSIVE!