If I were in the market for a laptop I'd get the asus L5000GM/GA, it uses The Intel 865PE chipset, supports high end cpus, dual channel ram, hyperthreading, very nice display, wireless lan (b/g), as well as either a ATI 9600mobility or a nvidia fx GO 5650. All around it's the nicest I've seen, at the right price (about $2,000 cofigured with the best stuff, definately beats ALIENWARE).
http://usa.asus.com/products/noteboo...m_overview.htm
can be configured here
nvidia
http://proportable.g2.cc/detail.aspx?ID=11
ati
http://proportable.g2.cc/detail.aspx?ID=12
Proportable seems like a nice company (and apparently is a registered retailer of asus products, as their site suggests them). I've been thinking about getting stuff from there for a while but I didn't ever really need them, so I haven't. I've talked to the people who run it quite a few times in the past they seem very polite and helpful. (It's no newegg though)
Also look at the ASUS centrino lappy, the S5ne
http://usa.asus.com/products/noteboo...n_overview.htm http://proportable.g2.cc/ http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20040225/index.html
Sorry if these laptops are out of your student price range.