For the past year I have been looking into laptops that would let me play games AND run Gnu/Linux without losing access to some hardware. I don't want to pay for a machine that otherwise runs perfectly fine but requires me to buy an external wifi card because the builtin card doesn't have a driver available for Gnu/Linux, for example.

I'm trying to avoid really heavy machines, but I should probably realize that I'm likely not going to find anything less than a desktop replacement. Still, I thought I would ask. It is hard to look through the different laptops mentioned on this site since they aren't sorted by anything but brand names.

I know that I should look for Nvidia-based video cards, but I think there is always something about how the power management or the wifi or the sound won't work.

Any suggestions on a good gaming Gnu/Linux laptop?

I have an HP zd8004AP notebook running a "Linux From Scratch" install (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org). Builtin 802.11g works with ndiswrapper, Bluetooth with Bluez. ATI Mobility Radeon X600 works with dri/fglrx binary from ATI's website.

Only tried HalfLife2 under XP, but Neverwinter Nights runs fine native under linux (using datafiles from your CD and linux binary from the website)

Can't comment on Power Management. Haven't bothered much with suspend to disk or such.

The only hardware I know that is not supported under linux is the builtin multicard reader, but I'm working on that myself :)

I bought this notebook as a desktop replacement, so it isn't light, and the battery life is only about an hour and a half, but that suits me. Have a look at http://www.zd7000forums.com/index.php for more info/discussions