HP Envy 17

HP Envy 17 is an excellent desktop replacement thanks to its stunning 17.3-inch display and solid performance. The brushed-aluminum design gets high marks, and pictures, videos and movies look great on the high-resolution display. Performance is good across the board. The base model comes with a 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5-460M processor, 500 GB hard drive, 6 GB of RAM and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 graphics. With this configuration the HP Envy 17 can play most modern games. Other upgrades include a Blu-ray drive, dual hard drives and an extra battery. Battery life is one disappointment - less than two hours. Touchpad, which has problems with some multitouch gestures, including two-finger scrolling.

Asus G73Jw-A1

Asus G73Jw-A1 is a great gaming laptop for those who want serious performance without spending several thousand dollars. The 17.3-inch laptop powers through the most demanding 3D games, and graphics look gorgeous on the large high-resolution display. It comes with a powerful Intel Core i7-740QM processor, dual 500 GB hard drives, 8 GB of RAM and Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M graphics. Frame rates are excellent for all games, including "Far Cry 2." The Asus G73Jw-A1 also has serious multimedia chops, as evidenced by how easily it streams 1080p videos or plays HD movies. It also runs cooler than most gaming laptops, thanks to a redesigned exhaust system that routes heat away from the processor. Like most gaming laptops, the Asus G73Jw-A1 has underwhelming battery life -- less than three hours in most tests.