So i'm looking for a decent gaming laptop for under $1,000 USD.
The one i'm leaning towards right now is this Sony: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/sony-vaio-fw560f-t/4505-3121_7-33776105.html?tag=mncol;lst
I'm also looking at this Asus: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/asus-g60vx-rbbx05/4505-3121_7-33776097.html?tag=mncol;lst
I don't really care if it has a blu-ray player or an hdmi hookup. I'm traveling a lot, so it can't be too big or heavy. I would prefer it be from a major computer company, as they generally offer good support. I know a lot of people who have had their Dell laptops break easily, so I would like to stay away from that brand if possible.
Anyone have any suggestions?

I had a bad experience with my Asus G1S, with random blue screens, even on fresh OS installs. Then windows refused to load for MONTHS, and I thought the laptop was bricked, then one day it magically started again, despite me doing every possible thing to it. My friend also got an Asus laptop, with a bit more power to it for his live shows, and it crapped out too. He got it replaced twice, same thing. Then another friend had his crap out. Asus makes decent hardware but their laptops are incredibly unreliable.
Doesn't Toshiba make a Satellite under $1000? I could have sworn they do.
EDIT:
AHA! I knew they offered one. It's $50 more, but I've heard good things from owners. No Blu Ray, but it has an HDMI port, or so the specs say.
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=456028

ASUS generally has very good gaming laptops. I've got the X62J myself, and it's been a hoot so far. The G60VX is the best sub $1000 pure gaming laptop that I know of right now, while it has a relatively weak processor, it boasts the GTX 260M graphics card which is very powerful considering the price. In most games the graphics card will be the bottleneck, and with the GTX 260M you can run everything without a second thought.

The ASUS has a nice sensible screen as well. A 720p display is a far better pairing for a mobile graphics card. All too often I see gaming laptops with 1080p screens paired with graphics cards that have no hope of playing games at that native resolution.

I would stay away from ASUS. So far I know two people that had trouble with their ASUS notebooks. It's just my personal opinion based on personal experience. I may be wrong but as long as there are other reliable notebook makers on the marked I don't see why taking the risk of buying ASUS.

This is subjective and blatantly wrong. Recently released numbers from the insurance business shows that Asus laptops suffer the least number of breakdowns in the first three years of use, compared with all other brands on the market. Brands like HP and Acer, for example, each hover around the 25% mark in hardware failures during the same three years - almost 10% more than that of Asus.
Thus, there is lower risk in buying Asus right now than any other brand.

Acer are absolute garbage. Their budget monitors are decent but everything else they make is rubbish. The Predator gaming PC they released even overheated and shut down in the CustomPC Benchmarks.

I speak from personal experience with owning an ASUS gaming laptop that it was shit. Yeah, it performed great, but overall, the entire laptop had numerous hardware issues and I sold it as soon as I managed to get it fixed again. Whats the point of having a good gaming laptop if its going to have continuous crashes. That, and combined with 2 of my friends having almost similar results with 2 different models of ASUS laptops, I'm going to lean with personal experience over research.
I still think the Toshiba Satellite would be the best way to go.
Also, the Acer didn't just overheat and shut down during benchmarks, they got full blown recalled as a fire/burn hazard.

if you get rid of macosx a macbook isn't that bad, but I don't know what the current prices are.

Does anyone have an opinion on the sony? I know the video card isn't quite as good as the asus, but its not bad either. Also, it has 6 gigs of ram, which is more than the other laptops i've been looking at.

Well over $1000 for a Macbook Pro, which are the only really good ones IMO, even for the 13 inch. My 15 inch Macbook Pro was $1500 after a student discount. Still, if you're in the market for PC gaming, don't get a Macbook. Only games I have installed on it are Diablo II, WOW, and a ton of DOS games (Boxer is seriously the best front end I've ever used, pity they don't make a PC version)
As far as Sony, I would rather go with a laptop manufacturer that focuses on PC gaming. As much as Sony is good for gaming with consoles, their PC's have typically always been marketed to people wanting multimedia or browsing computers, not gaming. If they finally got off their asses and made one, its about time, but I'd be a little leery around it.

Do you absolutely need a gaming laptop?
Gaming laptops are terrible. They are expensive, uncomfortable (low screen/smaller screen, cramped keyboard), slow (compared to gaming desktops at similar prices), hot, bulky, and have poor battery life.
Even for college kids who need something portable, a self-built gaming desktop and a light, portable notebook will give you a better gaming and portable experience for the same combined price as a decent gaming notebook. Are you actually going to play Crysis in your coach airline seat? You won't have enough room for a mousing surface, so why bother? The only justication for a gaming laptop is for MMO addicts who must be tethered to their virtual cocaine.
The recent gaming laptop obsession is foolish. I highly encourage you to consider an alternative technology solution.

I did some pretty good gaming on a 2k7 macbook (not pro)

Why do you even bother writing this? Do you think I am an idiot? Do you know anything about my situation?
For your information, I do a lot of traveling overseas, which makes it impossible for me to own a desktop. I don't need a computer that can run Crysis at 100fps, just something that can run recent games at a decent frame rate at mid to low settings.

That's not really a gaming laptop, then. For $1000 you are looking at a midrange video chipset, which is more of a multimedia machine than a gaming machine. Also, don't take posts here so personally. Gaming laptops are generally a bad idea, and I simply made it clear that you should not consider one unless you absolutely need a notebook and/or cannot use a desktop for gaming.
Regardless, because you want a laptop, you are going to have to compromise on the following (in order stay within your budget):
Performance
Heat
Battery Life
Bulk
If performance is most important to you, look into the Asus gaming laptops. They generally offer the best price/performance ratio. If you care less about performance and want a cooler, more portable machine, you may want to consider Toshiba or Lenovo. I generally advise against Vaio-branded laptops because they are overpriced. Because you have a tight budget, only consider a Sony if it is offered at a solid discount. Gateways are difficult to recommend. They have some attractive machines in terms of price:performance, but they suffer from reliability issues.
I dislike HP's multimedia notebooks (more style than substance, reliability issues). Dell's Studio notebooks are quite good, and the $800+ models even feature Radeon 4570 discrete graphics cards.
Caveat: Beware of low screen resolution. Many of the $800-1200 multimedia/gaming laptops use low resolution LCD panels to reduce parts costs. If you want a 15-17" screen with a high resolution, you need to pay closer to your $1000 limit.