Recommend me a laptop
 

The old one is dead, it's time to replace.

I'm interested in horsepower. Weight is a non-issue. XP preferred if possible.

Dell XPS M1710.

If price isn't an issue, load it up with a 250Gb drive, a 2.33GHz Core2Duo , GeForce 7950GTX and 4Gb of ram.

Cue the regulars who'll advise you to get a Mac ;)

If you want ultimate power notebook, it's hard to beat Alienware Area-51 m9750.

Then again, what's wrong with Mac :p
I love my MacBook Pro. For horsepower, I use my PC rig.

I'm on my fourth Dell, I just go in for Inspiron's mostly on the assumption if I ever have one stolen or killed, I'll buy another for a typically low price.

I have never, ever, had to have any of my Dell's fixed. Heartily recommend them.

Now someone from the anti-Dell brigade will tell you not to buy one because it nearly ruined their life, stole their wife, wrecked their automobile etc..

Go with the Dell Latitude line. It's case is some sort of metal and not the cheap plastic. Load it up with as much RAM and Hard Disk as you can and while your at it, the Widescreen is totally worth it.

Good luck!

Is Price an Issue?
 

You need to give some more specs. Depending on your need (RAM, CPU speed, graphics, hard drive type & size, screen size & resolution and DVD/CD type) you could easily spend anywhere from in the hundreds to in the multi-thousands. Also, do you want a dock for at-home use?

First off, Latitudes ARE plastic - I have seen them crack (with extreme dropping) - but they do hold up. 16 Oz. of milk spilled right inside it caused it to break but after sitting overnight it fired up good as new (still changed the MB just to be safe).

I am actually switching now to an IBM X61 tablet because a tablet can help me more now than a big laptop (although I still pimped it out as much as I could).

he's probably referring to the lid, which is metal. the rest of it is plastic, of course. my D600 (yeah yeah, company is stingy and won't shell out for a new one) has held up quite well the last couple of years. hasn't had to be rebuilt yet (knock on wood) and soda on the keypad has had no effect, other than the annoying "sticky keys". gonna have to figure out how to clean that sucker up one of these days.

Am I one of those regulars? ;)

In any case I recently switched to a Macbook running Parallels with XP on that. In "coherence" mode Parallels gives me a Mac desktop with access to all of the Mac tools and programs and then an XP toolbar across the bottom so that I can run any of my Windows programs (Outlook most typically). Alternately I can run XP in a window, which looks like an XP desktop or fullscreen mode in which case the whole thing looks like a damn XP notebook. I can even start my Mac VPN client on a WiFi connection and the Windows programs are on the VPN. Im just delighted with it, I can run Outlook in one window and an X term or Lightroom or whatever in another on the Mac side at the same time. Best since sliced bread. Ordered a new iMac when they came out to do the same thing on a desktop.

Macbook :)

Not to Bash Dell.... but
 

Dell is having some serious supply chain issues with the Inspirons -- particularly the line of colorful ones. I ordered one (a Ruby Red 1520 for my daughter) July 24 and finally gave up on it August 31 when they delayed shipment for the fourth time. The Latitudes are solid work machines. I've had several D6XX series machines and they all worked like champs. since those tend to be business machines, they will come with XP -- I did not see an option for XP on the Inspiron. The D-dock is a very nice docking station for the Latitude that will turn it into a nice desktop -- albeit somewhat pricey.

We ended up with a Sony Vaio CR190 in "Sangria", which I picked up at the Woodfield Sony Store. Comparable price and features and it works well so far.

Mac isn't an option for me.

Ram: Maxed for XP. I'm not going Vista at present.
Cpu: As fast as reasonable. Core 2.
Graphics: Not a big deal. I play few real-time games in the first place.
HD: Big.
Screen size: Less of an issue.
Optical: I've yet to see one that didn't offer everything from a plain reader to a DVD burner.

I do expect to spend at least $2k.

No dock, I've got better equipment already.

PC Magazine: Best of The New Breed
 

The Sep 18 issue of PC Mag happened to have an article on the mainstream laptops, ranged from $899 to $1999. Dell Inspiron 1420 and MacBook are the two Editor's Choices.

If interested, you may take a look at the article and see how you like the 6 models, Apple MacBook Pro, Dell Inspiron 1420, Fujitsu LifeBook A8030, HP Pavilion dv2500t, Lenovo ThinkPad R61, Gateway T-140X:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2177723,00.asp

Always had good luck (and service) from Dell
 

The follow Dell should work for you quite well (for about $3K):
Dell Latitude D830
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7700 (2.40GHz) 4M L2 Cache, 800Mhz Dual Core
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2, with media
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch Wide Screen WUXGA LCD Panel
MEMORY 4.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
HARD DRIVE 160GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD™
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 140M™
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless™ 1390 802.11g Mini Card
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS Dell Wireless® 360 Bluetooth Module for Windows XP
FINGERPRINT READER OPTION Touchpad with UPEK® Fingerprint Reader
BATTERY 9 Cell Primary and 6 Cell Media Bay Batteries
PRIMARY POWER OPTIONS 90W A/C Adapter
FLOPPY DRIVE No Floppy Drive
SECURITY Norton Internet Security™ 2006 15 Month Subscription
BACKUP OS DRIVERS AND SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION Resource CD