I bought a Sony PCG-GR250 about 2 yrs ago. It's a PIII 1 ghz with a dvd/cd-r combo drive and Radeon graphics. It's been great to me for these two years, no problems what so ever. Burner was great and I was able to run WC 3 with no problem what so ever. Only complaint is the battery life. I wish I had another battery but from Sony they ran about $250. And also the fact that I couldn't find a car charger for it.
This batter tho is a must have for my next laptop
http://www.valence.com/ 10 hours of battery life and it charges your cell phone or pda.
If you want a decent gaming laptop without spending alot look into the Toshibas with Nforce 2Go chips. You should be able to find one for about $1700. Dunno if I really have a need for another laptop soon but I'll be looking at a Toshiba next time.