I don't know, but I can tell you that Dell assign one person to you while your order is being processed, so that each time you ring with a query you get to speak to the same person. They let you track the machine being built via the web, and the delivery. They give you an estimated delivery time and then get it to you a week early. And they update their drivers regularly. The best service I've ever had from a company. Nearly as helpful as the Vogons group. 😁

I have an inspiron 8200. I can do both my day time job, and Glidos work anywhere (that's development for Unix Windows Symbian Palmos Wince).

And the graphics are execelent.

Oh yeh, and it has this incredible 1600x1200 screen.

Abouut £1,500 if I remember rightly.

The "old" Toshiba models are sturdy laptops.. (not unbreakble.. but the plastic look is more scratch resistant then the shiny/metallic counterpart).

Never get (cheap) metallic laptops... Yes they seem prettier, but get dirty earlier, scratch sooner.

There isn't really a "The best" laptop, just make sure the thing's got everything you need allready in it. (No pcmcia firewire/usb2/(wireless)network/port-replicator things.. they eat battery power alot) Also the not PIV mobile one gets either very hot or very slow.. (Beware, cuz they're cheaper).

Also check for a video card with a decent tv-out. (I've got the last "Old skool" toshiba model Tecra 8200 with 1400x1050 display. Not really a recommended aspect ratio, 1224x1024 or less creates black bars)

Sony's VAIO laptops are nice, slim, high-performance machines, but they'll cost a pretty penny. Really small laptops are hard to come by, too, but Fujitsu makes a really nice one with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't want PCMCIA, aside from the fact that it's impossible to NOT get a laptop with it (ditto USB, and IEEE1394 is pretty nice to have depending on what you're doing). It all depends on the functionality you want.

In any case, Dell does seem to be the all-around champion... though, I must say, their drivers are not updated nearly as often as someone here would make you think... 😉

This should be in Milliways. Moving it there.

Dell's drivers: yes I shouldn't have said regularly, but they do seem to update them every now and then.