I’m in the market for a new laptop. The one I have now has been working pretty well, but it just wasn’t made for the work I throw at it. It constantly complains and limps aloing like a lame dog.

I need a developer machine. One that can natively run IIS, SQL, several IDEs, Enterprise Manager, and more all at once. It needs to never warn me that it is running low on virtual memory (I run a LOT of things simultaneously and this machine seems to be on the low end of the RAM pool.) The one I have now came with Windows XP Home and every once in a while wonders how I tricked it into installing IIS in the first place.

In retaliation for the work I make it do, it stopped allowing me to burn CDs on the internal CDR drive. Not good considering that is my main method of backing up eveything…

Major considerations: price, screen size, built in WI-FI, weight, and battery life. I’d love for it to have a built in CDR or DVD+-R (big bonus for DVD+-R since I have an 8MB digital camera.)

My initial thought was AlienWare, but those boxes are pretty expensive, and their customer service is getting slammed on Channel 9. I won’t stand for crappy customer service. Next thought was VAIO, but they’re kind of pricy as well.

Do any of you developers use laptops as exclusively as I do that can recommend something or at least give a quick pro/con of you current setup to give some more to think about for narrowing down the ultimate portable work station?