Tell him to get a Desktop for gaming, he'll be better off. I built mine for high end gaming, for 750 bucks on Newegg.
E8400 Wofldale 3.0GHz Processor Dual Core
4GB RAM G.Skill PI (the good ones, with heatsinks built in)
1TB HDD ( Western Digital Caviar Black)
OCZ StealthXStream 700W Power Supply
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
Not sure what the current price is, but I paid like 720 or so for it, runs anything smoothly.
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I got my Laptop from DELL for 820, and it's 3GB RAM, 2.0GHz PRocessor, 320GB HDD. IT's not horrible, but not great. IT also has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450.