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I'm planning to buy a new laptop in the next 6 months, and wondered if anyone could give advice for what to go for.

Sadly I think my ideal machine is impossible- large memory and hard disk, portable yet able to run games with a graphics card. And all at a low price!

I was looking at the Dell Inspiron range- any thoughts?

Finally, a point crucial for photographers- do people notice a big difference between the old TFT and the newer, shinier TrueLife (Dell) displays? I noticed in a PC store these displays are incredibly shiny, but I've also heard they've better for viewing photos (and movies).

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Im using a macbook pro. and i have bootcamp to run games, the does quite well with it's 256mb nvidia 8600M GT with a glossy 17inch hi def screen.

Now im guessing that dells truelife is the same as apples glossy, if so glossy is well worth it. Makes blacks look really nice only problem it takes finger prints and marks like nothing and it's a bit hard to clean but well worth it. Ill try taking a picture of my laptop and a normal screen side by side with the same picture and see if it turns out.

as for what laptop of the range I dunno, the XPS looks cool. But could consider a mac, they are mighty cool

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Camera: Canon 40D, 17-85mm IS
Knowledge of Photography: Hours of reading and videos.
Computer: iMac 24inch 3.06Ghz 4gb ram 500gb HD Nvidia 8800 GS 512mb

Hi Steve, Sony has some interesting solutions with a switchable graphics chipset - basic one for office use and a higher performing 3D one you can reboot into for games - albeit with lower battery life. I think that's in the SZ series.

But for me a laptop is ALL about portability, so I'm an ultra-portable man.

I'm very fond of my recent Sony Vaio TZ150N, especially since I installed XP on it, and of course you all know how I feel about the lovely Asus EeePC!

Hey Steve,

as you may know, Dell bought Alienware. Alienware are one of the few who create laptops with desktop components - which are generally faster-performing than their laptop-equivalents.

On the downside, they are power-hungry and generate more heat - and more expensive.

Nevertheless, for gaming, they are among a very select few providers who can keep up with the desktops.

Check this link out: http://alienware.com/product_pages/notebook_all_default.aspx

On a side note: those glossy monitors are absolutely horrendous for reflections. Great for headaches and pictures both..lol. I'd never use one on a laptop for any kind of mobile computing - how they came up with this idea when the entire industry for monitors have struggled for a decade to reduce reflections is beyond me. Only thing more surprising is that people actually buy these glossy screens. In a dark room with no light behind you they are great, I'm sure.

Good luck with your choice.

Cheers