Just trying to keep us ALL on track, including jesc.
Toshiba: I have a hard time recomending Toshiba laptops. They have a few oddly proprietary parts. LCDs for Toshibas can be a bit pricey, their keyboards are extremely specific (and no windows key? really?) Not to mention I see more shattered DC jacks in Toshiba’s than almost any other machine. A shattered jack can lead to massive shorting, which can lead to motherboard failure, data loss, and even fire. Keep in mind most Toshiba laptops are manufactured by Acer. And acer is another one of those companies that I have a hard time recommending.
Acer: This company focuses on value (emachines, gateway, OEMing for Toshiba, etc). I just have a hard time recommending them A blinding focus on value is great for the short term easy end user, but when the laptops go though as much hell as we DJs put them through, you’ll end up with something broken and fast (don’t get me started on how easy it is to ruin a HDD on an acer because of the poor shock protection. [it’s even bad enough that they had to design their own software to help that!])
Dell: Dell makes an alright laptop to be honest. Just be careful. I’d recommend getting something from a line with lots of reviews/purchases. Why? If there is a massive failure or problem, you’ve got a better chance of getting help. and do not, i repeat, do NOT get a 17" dell. They still can’t seem to get their grounding issues worked out, and I see lots of strange failures in those laptops (and do you really want a DJ laptop with grounding issues?) Their laptops also don’t take kindly to most hardware repairs. I have a higher failure rate with jack repairs on Dells than any other type.
HP/Compaq: I used to like these laptops quite a bit, but in the last 2 years they’ve gone really down hill. Across 50% of their business/performance laptops they’ve had a big problem with the bios. The fan doesn’t spin aggressively enough and causes whacky problems like the mini PCI-Express slot refusing to recognize any device plugged into it (no wireless!), leading to LCD issues, and eventually motherboard failure. It’s such a massive problem they recalled the ENTIRE dv3000 dv6000 series among others. But it’s a quiet recall. So those who don’t know about it are screwed. Not to mention they havn’t corrected the problem in a lot of their laptops that are even being churned out now. tx series laptops are suffering this problem etc, but do NOT fall under the recall. What’s the best thing to do? find out if that laptop has a bios update. if it does? steer clear of it. if it doesn’t that’s one of the laptops that is NOT falling under this whacky engineering failure.
However, asside from that one weirdness HP has some of the COOLEST warranty service ever. For a DJ, their 2 year accidental damage warranty is amaaazing. And for a DJ accidental damage happens! So to be able to just call up hp and say “some bloke spilled his beer on my laptop, fix it please!” is awesome.
Compal: This is one of the OEMs out there that builds stuff for all kinds of different companies. They also make their own rebrandable laptops. and are one of the big 5. I love love love these laptops. Extremely good value, easy to service, and low dpc latencies. Every laptop I’ve owned in the last 3 years (with exception of my custom built solid state laptop I did 3 years ago) has started with a compal chassis! I really can’t recommend them enough. The downside? Most of the companies that sell compal chassis don’t offer the best warranty plans, so it means you might have to do all the legwork. Hard drive goes bad? you might have to contact western digital. etc. there’s always a downside. heh
Asus: Another really great company. They really focus on solid performance along with great value. They just began OEMing for dell and apple recently which is pretty nifty. I don’t have much bad to say about these laptops except they WILL be a bit pricier than your typical laptop and again, warranty can suffer a tad when it’s not from a big-box.
Lenovo/IBM: I love these laptops, and they just started making a ton of sub 1k laptops. I’ve been hearing a number of performance complaints and odd complaints with that series of laptops though, so I’m not sure about them, but honestly, I very very rarely see problems with lenovo/ibm. and boy are they rugged laptops. They definitely give the other manufacturers a run for their money!
Apple: good solid machines, and consistency. that’s the biggest thing to remember about apple, is you can count on every single machine to be the same and there are so few models to choose from you can be sure things are going to be simply put and organized. I personally don’t like apple, their business practices, or not being the master of my own domain (If i want to use my wireless card, i’m gonna use it dammit!). But that doesn’t change the fact that they make a good laptop.
-------------
Things to keep in mind.
Wireless: If you can, get your laptop WITHOUT the wireless card, and pick up a gigabyte draft N card (or any atheros chipset). Why? Because the Atheros driver is muuuuch nicer on DPC latencies than other drivers (especially intel).
Processor: Go intel. Seriously. Most audio software was designed around an intel, and it will just run better with an intel. I could go into a lot of details, but just trust me. you’ll be sooo much happier with buying an equally priced intel processor when it comes to audio applications.
RAM: you don’t need to get super fancy ram! I use Patriot. It’s remarkably low timings, and high reliability is jaw dropping when you compare their price to folks like kingston or ocz. Not to mention everyone is using samsung chips anyway! and if it’s got samsung chips they offer a nice lifetime warranty! Of course, most laptops have ‘asynchronous dual-channel’. what’s that mean? It means that if you put in a 2g and a 1g chip, it will still run in dual channel as best it can(until it has to start pushing over into the 3rd gig). it’s pretty brilliant. So don’t worry about matching sticks, just worry about getting as much ram as you can afford to put in your machine (remember 3.5 is your cap in 32bit windows)
HDD: you don’t NEED high speed. I promise. What you probably DO need? space. the 500g western digital is running for 100 bucks. and with it’s 2 platter design is wicked fast for a 5400rpm drive. If you’re just DEADset on a fast HDD, i’d recomend the scorpio black 320g. you will drop 120 instead of 100, and end up with a ridiculously fast HDD with a good chunk of space. Keep in mind though, these hard drives are loud (in terms of signal AND volume)
Otherwise, most other features are really up to you. choose wisely though! As we all know, the wrong driver can KILL your dpc latencies. Also, i’m always happy to offer my mean spirited opinions on laptops for everyone. 
Good hunting!
) and have used my main laptop for gigs and would like to start leaving it home in the studio where it’s safe because it was quite expensive and I cannot afford any unfortunate accidents.
