Depending on what game you want to play omegaman, it's mostly gonna be the video card that hits the wallet for the laptop.
Most modern laptops come without a DirectX 9/10 based video integrated system, meaning they use manufacturer integrated onboard stuff from Intel GMA, SYS, bunch of random stuff not worth mentioning. With these, you'll have a hard time running modern day games that reside on a good GPU. Even if it works, the quality is sure to be superbly horrible, pun intended.
You'll want something based off an ATI Mobility Radeon Xpress or Nvidia GO GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). I'm kind of behind on the latest GPUs for laptops, but I'm guessing top of the line on the market atm is:
Nvidia: GeForce GO 9800GTS/GTX - best you can possibly get.
ATi: Mobility Radeon HD 3850.
In the Nvidia Line, the higher the number doesn't necessarily mean it's better.
For example, you'll see:
x200/x300/x400/x500/x600/x800
with that x being the series of the card, 6x was about several years ago, 7x was a few years ago, 8x was within the recent 2-3 years, 9x is last year and this year. 9x series will phase out, eventually but it will stick around for at least 5 years in terms of "supported for the future"
(6200GS/6300 GS/6600GT/6800GTS, 7200GT/7300GS/7800GTS etc..)
usually, it's the higher the hundredth digit, the stronger and top of the line it is. (ex, 9800GTX > 8800 GTS > 9800 GS > 7800 GT > 8200 GS > 6800 GT > 6600 GT> 7400 GS etc.)
There's also a GS < GT < GTS < GTX badge, just like how Toyota denotes their types of cars.
I'm kind of behind on ATi's HD series, about 2years behind.. I'm not up to date on the current ones out there, so I can't explain for those. I will probably go research more sometime when I have free time.
After the graphics card part, the next focus is the CPU. Omegaman, you mention you like doing gaming and video encoding so, both raw CPU power and GPU power are in your favor for your new laptop.
Right now, the best CPUs are in Intel's hand, like Foxrac suggested. Core2Duo is unprecedented these days, they have dominated and continue to dominate AMD technology. What Core2Duo means is that there are two CPU's (read PC brains) that can work simultaneously at the same time. Which is a huge plus for video encoding. You'll be able to have faster encoding times, saving you time in the long run.
Use Tom'sHardware over at [
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/mobile-cpu-charts/benchmarks,19.html ] for some quick chart reference of CPU vs CPU speeds where you can select various ones. Note that your mileage may vary, because for benchmarking they usually choose top of the notch stuff.
They're working on getting the Quad Core laptops out, not sure when it'll be on the market though. Quad core has been available on desktop for some time already.
Keep in mind, with that kind of a power-hungry propelled system, your battery life will probably take a spike down in return. Meaning you'll probably get ~2.5 hours without the AC charger plugged in.
A tip: Watch out for most salesmen at electronic stores! They may seem helpful.. but often most of the time their focus is to get you to hopefully buy something that they currently carry. Sometimes they don't even know what the hell they're talking about, I've had my share of faking my PC intelligence in front of these people and found out they had no idea what was coming out of their mouth. It is rare to find a true geek who will tell you not to waste your money on this and wait or buy a different type at another store or online.
I also do a lot of researching at
www.newegg.com for their laptop section. They have a wide selection you can compare full of the technical specs you want, and great pictures.