I like the idea, but I can't see it happening. First off, a simple MacBook 2.0 dual core, with 2GB RAM runs around $1,500. Secondly, how much money am I going to need to spend to make it work with Windows? Because that is what is going to run on this laptop. Even if I went Mac, how much do I spend to replace all of the software that I use? What about my coding? What about my time to learn all of the new hardware/software? What about my non-technical business partner's learning curve?

Thanks for the tought, though.

First, I'm not and have never been a laptop user but every so often I investigate what the best laptops are and IBM Thinkpads are always at the top.

http://www.shahine.com/omar/Lenovo.aspx

Yeah, Dell seems to be losing themselves to the Greed Machine mentality. Someday I'm going to write a lengthy post on the backlash consumers wield towards companies they perceive as taking advantage of them, usually due to some form or lock-in or otherwise-leveraged situation that results in an (almost always temporary) power imbalance. Eventually, they always get their due, I think.... and Dell is going to be smelling the coffee on that one if they don't start catching a clue pretty soon re: the Trust factor.

That said, do you know if Alienware is included in this? They are *owned* by Dell, so likely not one you want to purchase, but I hear they operate independently, and their laptops seem to have a good reputation among the folks I know who own them.

Make sure you post what you end up going with, OK? I'll be in the market again soon as well. : )

Mac's have a dual book capability and would guess you already have a copy of Windows on the computer that you are replacing. So cost and learning curves are not much of a real factor. Additionally, you can save a few bucks by purchasing a minimal MacBook and then getting additional memory from someone other than Apple.
Should you decide to explore the world of OSX, You may find the over all expense to be pretty equal to Windows. There is a lot of software that comes with a Mac, that you have to pay for on Windows. Should you want to run both OSX, Windows and/or Linux, virtually, then for $80 you can get Parallels. Just imagine what you could do interfacing Delphi with Apache, Ruby, Python and even Perl (most of which are preinstalled).

Besides, how cool would it be to have a white Windows laptop?

Or is it that REAL Delphi developers only do Windows?

I appreciate the input, Doug. I've done a bunch of checking around here on that option here. It sounds more possible than I originally thought.

Thinkpad T60 line. http://tinyurl.com/38nbnw

Sure they'll use a secret chip in it to spy on you.. but at least you can get your work done.. and have someone to keep you company.

ASUS

I have and year and 1/2 old asus m6a and for the money i paid, it certainly out perform the other crap that they sell like toshiba, dell etc..

The only annoyance with them tho is the ctrl and Fn are swapped around and is pain to get used to when use code insight all the time.

Check out the HP Pavilion dv6000z series. You can buy them with the AMD Turion X2 64-bit dual core processor in various speeds, the price is quite reasonable, and the performance is very good.

I think you should get one of these:

http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/compaq/

You'll be the envy of all your friends...