I have an upper-level Acer travelmate, and i LOVE it.

We sell acer'* at the computer repair shop i work at, and out of the 1000+ we have sold, only about 5 people have had issues.

If you want a top-of-the-line unit, maybe an acer ferarri?

http://us.acer.com/acereuro/page4.do...76#inu57_33375

so how big of screen....weight...stuff like that we need to know toasted.....

Intel has more interest in the portable dept right now compared to AMD..I'd go intel since they seem to be faster for the buck.

Well since you're looking for technical lookouts and not suggestions really...

If you want it to last a while, in this day and age, definitely get a processor like the intel core duo 2 7k series and up. get at least 2 GB memory, definitely recommend 160GB+ hd 7200 rpm, MAKE SURE IT HAS GOOD VIDEO, vista and the programs that will be designed for it will be extremely video intensive. you need to make sure you have a very good video processor and preferribly 256mb+ GDDR3 video memory. Now. for screen size, go definitely with 15.4 and above. Widescreen is nearly a must. 17" is recommended. Also, make sure its a high quality TFT that is like WUXGA+ low quality TFTs will have ghosting, bad contrast, limited viewing ratio etc. ok. now onto the add ons and accessories. bluetooth. get it. if you plan to keep this laptop for a few years and use it for just about everything, get it bluetooth enabled, the availability of bluetooth compatible periperals is widening daily. media drive, dvd burner a must, they come standard on most modern mobile computers, but make sure its a good one, do some research on it and see if anyone is complaining about any bugs, performance, etc. the one in my laptop is full featured, dvd +/- r, cd, dvd-ram, etc, but it always gives me constant errors and won't even read most burned cds and dvds. ok lets seeee...lets seee... BATTERY LIFE, very important, my 6 cell battery pack is lame and has become garbage since i've owned the computer, it malfunctions, has no battery life, etc. get something with alot of cells or get an extra. also, with the power of today'* mobile computers, they can handle just about anything you throw at them virtually, so a good integrated sound setup is always a definite plus. most laptops sound really tinny and awful, some larger ones actually come with a small subwoofer built in, so make sure its got something thats tolerable. hmm. ports, extra expension ports are good, for example, a monitor out port, mine has both analog d-sub and *-video so i can hook up to the TV or whatever pretty easily, its cool for sharing photos etc. hmm, oh yeah, USB ports, the more the better, i only have three, its kinda annoying. not to mention they are placed wrong. uhh. placement is key, and the amount of them. also things like firewire and stuff are usually only standard on macs, no one really ever uses them because well...companies design things for PCs..not macs. so those rarely matter, and if need be, you can always get an expansion card. hmm. that should be about it for right now. umm. just make sure it has Vista Ultimate installed and you'll be good to go.

i know gonneville has a nice *** labtop. cant remember what kind though

well, essentially, i am going to be replacing my desktop with the lappy.. the desktop is going to be converted into a home media server, and that will be its only function. I occasionally play a game or two, but it is not something that i am looking for in the computer. If i can play a game, great, if not, then oh well.

That being said, as it will be my main PC, screen size is likely my most important feature. along with the ability to run some basic programs, the most intensive will be photoshop, and i only use that occasionally.

I'm also trying to keep this within a low budget, it absolutely HAS to be under $1000, so getting 2gig of ram is likely out of the question, but if its expandable to 2-4gb, that would likely work for me, then i could upgrade when i got more cash together.

As much as people are gonna hate this, start shopping at the computer chains.

Dell
CompUSA
Microcenter

NOT
Best Buy
Circuit City
etc...

That way, you can at least get an idea of what you can afford. And, if you have a store locally, go put your hands on it. From there, you can shop around the manufacturer and/or discount sites to see if you can get a better price.

For something this expensive, I would avoid eBay only sales. I know some big names use eBay as their store front. Fine. But I personally would not trust "Joe Schmucky'* House of Computers" through eBay

But, I just reminded myself of another idea. If you don't neccessarily need the Top-of-the-line, Zero Day products, see what yoiur local used compouter store has in stock.

Toshiba makes some nice labtops for a damn good price. I got my tablet for 1100 all said and done and my mom got a very nice one for a little bit less. The best thing to do is watch the sales.

5400rpm hard drives are livable but go 7200 if you can.

Something else to factor in is if you want a DVD burner and such built in.

Acers are cheap, but IMO, it wouldn't be the best for your use.

Id reccomend the newer hp laptops, esp the dv8000 and the dv9000 with the AMD turion 64 cpus

since all of my media will be stored on the "media server" PC, i dont have a large demand for high speed data acquisition.. do you people think that for MY application the 5400 will be sufficient, or are they really THAT slow?