What is a good laptops?

Im looking in to buying a laptop...but i dont know what one to buy. I am going to be buy a laptop and not a desktop becuse i ship for BCT in about 23 days and i plan on buying one to have one on base and in Iraq when i ship. I would like one for gaming mostly, i know a laptops is not what you would typicaly use for gaming but the games i will be playing are RTS games (i plan on buying a mouse for it). Gaming, MSN, Internet are the about the only programs i will be using it for...so i need to know what brands to check out and what things to look for when shopping.....can some one help me or point me in a direction?