Help: Laptop Options

[Simba]

Let's see if you guys can help me out on this one.

Recently, I've been looking for a laptop that would suit me well, but still not come out ridiculously expensive. I've been with Dell for quite a while now, but it seems now that they will fail me. (I probably shouldn't even have been with Dell.)

I would love an Macbook, but those simply come out too expensive for me.

I'm probably going to try not purchasing a laptop from a brand place (such as Dell or Apple). I've heard from my friend that he was able to configure a decent computer with Core 2 Duo processing, ATI Radeon video card for about $800.00 from some website. So I was wondering if any of you knew where I could get a deal like this.

In short, I need help purchasing a new laptop. Details as help comes.

[Simba]

I've heard about how much Alienware owns, but aren't they also pretty expensive? Also, I'm going for a laptop, no desktops on this one.

About the refurbished Mac, where would I be able to get one? That actually might not even end up working out because I want to be able to customize the computer.

Some things I'm looking for:
- 17" WUXGA screen
- At least 2GB of RAM
- Intel Core 2
- N wireless card
- Dedicated graphics card

But all around or under $2,000.

Also, my thing about these other websites like Alienware, CyberPowerPC, and IBuyPower, is how their warranties are.

It'd also be nice if I could just not deal with the Vista and be able to just use XP as the operating system. Unless there's someone out there that'll convince me that Vista isn't all that bad?