Laptop upto $1250 range - HP Pavilion dv6 or Sony FW series

It was the slower 5400 RPM unit. Instead I went with the dv6-1361sb (under 1K at newegg.)

It is no LAPtop. Since it's a screamer it will be warm so it fills the role of a desktop replacement. If heat is an issue for you, you need to avoid all 3D chipsets and more.

It works very well with BLUETOOTH, Windows 7 Pro 64-bit bringing in the XP MODE when needed.

My only quibble is the slick keyboard tops.

Hope this helps,
Bob

Get the best processor you can, and don't worry about the memory/hard drive. It's easy as unscrewing a couple of screws to upgrade the memory, and it's only a little more difficult to upgrade the hard drive. The processor, on the other hand, is not really upgradeable. Plus, it's the most important part. Also focus on the GPU, because the video boards are not upgradeable either, but don't get one that's super high powered, unless you want to burn your lap when the computer resides there. You should also check the system bus speed (FSB) and make sure it's at least 1066MHz. Any computer over $1000 should be 1066MHz. This will allow you to use 1066MHz DDR3 memory if you ever want a speedboost. Also, one last tip, in my experience, any screen over 15.5" is going to be too big to be portable if you want to use the computer on the plane or in the car. For one thing, it's just too big, and it also eats your batter power up in one heck of a hurry.

Forgot to mention, but if you care about looks, then Sony has HP beat there!

If we follow this advice, then the Sony Vaio 2.53GHz is probably the best. I assume it has a onboard GPU, which will keep the system cool, yet provide pretty good graphics (the built in 9400M chip in my MacBook Pro is awesome, yet it is just a built in chip; nothing fancy). It has a good processor. 2.53GHz will keep you up-to-date with the latest programs for a good long while in the future. It has a reasonably large hard drive which can be upgraded later if you need more space. You could even upgrade to an SSD for a super speedboost when SSDs get cheap enough. And lastly, it has a decent amount of RAM. 2GBs is just fine for 90 percent of the tasks people do. If you plan on doing some HD video editing or an equally demanding task, then you can always upgrade later.

have fun with the new machine (whichever you finally choose)!

look at. Although I do give processor technologies a closer look. I just bought a quad core processor but isn't the new i7 quad core processor which is the most effiicent quad core intel makes for laptops. The reason I look at memory over processor is because processor speed is critical for number crunching and memeory is more important in multi tasking or running multiple apps at once which i do more with my laptop. I also get the biggest hard drive possible when I purchase. My taste likes the look of the HP better then the Sony. My pc I bought with 6 gig of ram which was a deal because 4 gig ram is close to $400 now and 2 gig is around $20. Also the model I have the DV7-2180us which is the brotherod the DV6 was ranked by comsumer reports as the 2nd best 17" laptop out there and the highest that runs Windows 7 out of the box.