I use a notebook and it works great!  Just be sure you get a nice GeForce Go Mobile card like the 8600GT that I have.  I would order from a company like Dell that allows you to "build your own," that way you can design it for gaming.  I got their cheapest model that allowed me to use the 8600GT and I elected to stick with XP since it was going to be a gaming machine.  I don't think they offer XP anymore, but I think Vista is finally nearing getting the kinks worked out in terms of gaming.  Just make sure you get plenty of RAM.  My proc is a 1.66Ghz Core 2 Duo, which is roughly equivalent to a 3Ghz single core, gaming-wise.  If I could do anything different though, I'd probably get a much faster proc.  Since you'll probably get Vista with it, I'd also get about 4GB RAM (but NOT from Dell, etc.  Get it from Newegg or somewhere cheap). 

Since you're posting on this site, I'm assuming that you like games that aren't necessarily graphics intensive.  I could never run Crysis on my lappy, but I don't want to.  It runs every TBS game that I play great, and that's all I care about.  Valve games, of course, all run fantastic.  The only way to play next-gen games on a laptop is to drop between 2-4 grand on one.  I got mine for under $800 and it suits all my needs well.  Make sure you Google a bit and look for online coupons; they're usually plentiful and can allow you to get a better setup for cheaper. 

I've only had one problem gaming on my laptop:  King's Bounty with settings maxed (noAA, 4xAF) was overheating and shutting me down.  But, I bought a laptop cooler and haven't had a problem since.  I'd recommend a cooler, since gaming creates quite a bit of heat and laptops are so compact.

One minor caveat: laptops are not designed for gaming (unless it's an XPS, Alienware, etc.) so some games may not work right.  So far, I haven't found any problems though.  I've played Bioshock, Rome:TW, Medieval II:TW, GalCiv2, Oblivion, King's Bounty, HOMM5, and others all on high settings.  I hope this helps.  Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

no.

no...

Netbook? No.

How do I know? I have one...

Eee PC 901 XP

After noticing it stated "Netbooks", i retract my statement and go with the general opinion here and say "no"

on netboks i dont think, but you can get for some higher price even 12" notebooks which already are realy small (like a standard paper, 210mmx290mm is already a 15,4" !!) and with low weight.

i'm currently searching for a good, powerfull but small in size and weitht notebook with 12", and there are some realy good, like the sony vaio in its different classes, but i think i will still wait a bit until the new mobile graphic cards are cheaper or a newer series is out. for playing games like warcraft 2 or maybe even age of empires 2, anno and so on a netbook could already be enough. but as you start to play games with 3D modeling, polygones and such things the netbook-option will vanish.

Sony VAIO VGN-SR21M/S  could be an option...  even good enough fo any strategy game... but the moste time you have good performans or slim notebook... the combination of that at its mid is maybe the HP pavilion in Bronce, looking very cool, with cood performance and not too large... i'll maybe buy it myself

but both of them are two to three times as expensive as a netbook... i dont know why your desicion was a netbook, if it is the price or the mobility, but if it was the second thing, the pavilion got only 1,8 kilo... feels like a book in your little bag

Woops!  I didn't even know what the hell a "netbook" was until this post.  Now that I do: NO!  You cannot game on them.  Not modern games anyway, maybe ancient DOS stuff.

But back to my original recommendation, just go for a real laptop like I suggested, it won't be too much more than a netbook, and it can do A LOT more stuff, like gaming!  

Depends what kind of games.   If you can game on an iPhone, of coarse you can game on a netbook.

Think about all those flash base games you can play.  I once saw a thread showing all the real games you can play on a netbook.  I'm sure if you do a search you can find a list of all playable games like starcraft.

Thanks everyone for the response.  Think on this more I must. (I have a decent Desktop at home, so I can get my gaming fix just fine, and my laptop does decent enough for GalCiv2.)  I don't have much experience with touchscreen, so I'll keep that in mind.

I wonder how the Nvidia Ion will run games.  (And to confirm, I could care less aout graphics.)

Netbooks should be perfect for running roguelikes, though.

There are games that will run great on a netbook, alot of them webbased... Assuming you stick to those, a netbook is awesome for gaming.

It's about the same things as asking "Is it ok to eat mushrooms?".... The answer is Yes and No... It depends on what mushrooms you intend to eat....

If you could get one with one of the GeForce 9400M graphics chips it might be ok for games which aren't very demanding. The amount of RAM would still be a worry though: Civ 4, for example, will probably not run large maps very well with only 1GB.

Of course, this leads to the question of what types of games you play.

Sure, it'll play 2D games, emulate games for ancient OSes, and perhaps even play some of the older 3D games.

But it won't be able to play the latest 3D games.