I'm heading to university in a few months and so may have to part ways with my beloved consoles and do something I never thought I would do- become a PC gamer. Only problem being I don't really have a PC, just my slightly decrepit laptop. So I was wondering if you ever-so-clever people could recommend games on Steam that I could easily play on my laptop, preferably without having to drastically drop everything down to its lowest settings, or am I just a lost cause. And just for you tech heads, here are my vital statistics:
Inspiron 1525 
Intel GMA X3100 
1GB RAM
2.13 GHz
 
I have very little clue about the interworkings of comps so if you think I should buy some...add-on then try and spell it out for my little mind xD

Those settings are pretty low, especially if you're using Windows 7/Vista. Most games made after 2004 will not be playable on that.
 
Games you could play include San Andreas, Star Wars: KotOR, Torchlight (loading screens will be a pain in the ass if you're on Vista/7 though), Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition, Half-Life 1 and 2 (Half-Life 2 Episodes will probably be too much, especially Episode Two), and various small indie games such as World of Goo and Audiosurf (Braid probably has too many effects for your laptop to run effectively, and no ability to turn down the visuals).

Good suggestions above^ I recommend you try a few demos and see what you can run.

yeah those settings are kinda low especially as far modern PCs go. Most games youd be able to run would be old games such as Half Life and Deus Ex. which are good games so there is nothing wrong with that. But if you insist on playing new games your gonna have to stick with those small indie game uch as flotilla or beat hazard. beat hazard might actually be a little slow. But try installing some demos of game to see what runs. 

If you want a list of old game that are still fun to play id recommend

Half Life

Quake 2

Max Payne

Indigo Prophecy

Return to castle Wolfenstein

or if your destined for online shooters you might wanna hit up quake live. or get CS or see if CS source runs. or get Unreal Tournament 2004. you probably need to find someone whos glued into the community to let you in on all the other custom game types that are more popular than the original.

Audiosurf?

Gratuitous Space Battles prides itself on its ability to be played by older machines.

" Gratuitous Space Battles prides itself on its ability to be played by older machines. "

Yeah, except graphically (it'll probably do fine though).

I was going to suggest puzzle games, something like Peggle.  The Civ series would probably be okay, if you go for that.

StarCraft?  Maybe WarCraft 3?

I'm a big fan of Guild Wars.

Try Plants vs Zombies.  That game is super rad and only runs at 800x600.