Quote from sandygray66:
After spending the extra $$ for several IBM laptops over the past decade, and having the last 2 fail on me, I went with an HP Pavillion dv8000 with 17" screen, Intel Centrino Duo etc. in June of this year. It came with dual hard drives, so I have built-in back-up (but I also have an external hard drive for additional back-up that stays at home when I travel).
I couldn't be happier with it. It's fast and I love the large screen. And it was very reasonably priced (got it at Costco).
When home, I have 3 external 19" Dell monitors hooked up to it via the Matrox Triple Head2Go (giving me 4 screens total).
When I travel, I like to have all my programs with me, so I run everything on a laptop whether at home or on the road.
Very impressed with the value of the HP laptop. I also bought one for my 75 year-old father for his birthday this summer (his first laptop).