Looking at a getting a new lappy

[JustinC939]

I'm looking to spend around $350 or so, but I'd rather buy a used/refurbed mid to high end lappy that's a few years old rather than get a brand new cheapy. It's what I've always done because I find that the cheap laptops have rather poor build quality and just end up with various hardware issues shortly after then 90 day warranty.

I'm just looking for some recommendations based on this criteria.

802.11n
Dual Core CPU (Intel Preferred)
17" Display 1920x1080 (LED would be nice)
At least 2hrs of battery life
4GB of DDR2/DDR3
Decent graphics for low end gaming like WoW (dedicated graphics preferred)

FYI: I could probably go closer to $500 for a really awesome bang for buck kinda deal.

I'm not too picky on brands, but I kinda would like to stay away from HP/Compaq as I don't like having to check a whitelist if I want to upgrade my WLAN card.


Thanks in advance.

[supercat]

Using a Lenovo T61, excellent laptop. Made in 06 or so has XP pro but it can run 7, Core 2 Duo, Quadro FX 256 dedicated card, large high res screen, excellent keyboard. Tough. Look on the auction sites, I found mine locally for a song, bet fully functional they are 300 maybe less by now. The T61 is a high quality laptop for sure .

[Frank1946]

I'll second buying a used/refurb Lenovo. They are built like Russian tanks and drives and other components can easily be replaced or swapped out. I'm still using a refurb T60 on my infrequent "road trips"