Who makes the best ones for your money?

It all really depends on what you need and what you are looking for, what you wouldn't mind having, and what you are willing to pay for.

So long as you don't buy some off-brand JazzMaster laptop, the major brands such as Acer, HP, Dell, and whoever else all offer a competitive product line with varying price points.

Indeed it is based on your needs. The laptop market is still trying to establish some form of standard so it's a bit of a hit and miss thing with what you get.

Dell uses their own expansion system if you get a non-integrated video card, usually you get around 3 options for upgrades off of each platform if you're lucky.

HP, Acer and a few others are part of the MXM initiative to form standards in mobile video card production. Finding a system with a compatible slot is another story though.

I would suggest looking around http://www.notebookcheck.net

Everything else can be swapped if you're determined enough though. The basic swaps are the RAM/CPU/HDD/Optical/Battery and the more advanced mod would be swapping the LCD for a higher resolution panel if you can find one for that model.

I got a HP laptop a few months ago, and I'm pretty happy with it. I got a great deal on it compared to what Dell had to offer, it has many options and many ways you can customize it.

Mostly depends on where you shop and what options you can do outside of the "customize" screen they present you on their website. In terms of "I found it better for cheaper with company x" it depends on the experience and resources available to the buyer for research and pricing.

People have had luck modding various MXM boards (depends on the type) to cram in video cards the company never intended to even see in there and get great future performance as a result.

In the case of HP though many reports have shown that while it looks like an MXM slot, that compatibility is hard to achieve with the system and often boards don't fit making the system pretty much die off when gaming takes another leap ahead instead of leaving a possible opening to mod the laptop with a new video card.

I guess it all depends on this users definition of customizable, and how far they would ever want to take it.

I was mostly referring to how much I could customize it online when I ordered it. When I was comparing different laptops online, I found HP to be cheaper, and had more options compared to Dell. As far as modding it after I bought it, the most I'll probably do is upgrade a hard drive or add more RAM.

HP is not always cheaper than Dell, but it's a great choice with a coupon code, recently there is a good coupon about $400 off web-only coupon for a CT HP Pavilion Notebook, looks great

http://www.dealstudio.com/viewtopic.php?t=38832&ru=290

Coupons help a lot with HP models but if I'm in the market for a huge punch without murdering my wallet, HP will hardly match the Dell outlet especially when using coupon codes or discounts on top of the huge discount already given. Plus I at least know my system was given a look by an individual to be certified out the door instead of just rolled off an assembly line.