Ty to everyone for the insightful feedback! I bugged one of my friends with this question also, and he ended up pointing me towards this setup

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218044029168

for $850 USD.

On paper, everything looks much better (esp the video card. a 9800m GS). The only drawback for me is the kinda 14 year old-ish lightning bolts on the case of the laptop. Thanks to everyone for posting on their experience with laptop gaming!