If bigger size is important, check out the HP EliteBook 8730w mobile workstation - a business workstation grade laptop:

HP EliteBook 8730w Mobile Workstation - specs

• 17.0-inch diagonal WSXGA+ anti-glare wide-viewing angle (1680 x 1050 resolution)
• 17.0-inch diagonal WUXGA wide-viewing angle anti-glare (1920 x 1200 resolution) $2349
• 17.0-inch diagonal WUXGA DreamColor wide-viewing angle (1920 x 1200 resolution)*

but if you want high performance on a not too heavy notebook, check out the envy 15: specs

• http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/envy/discover_15.html
• Price about $1999
• 1.6GHZ Intel Core I7 - possible 4-5 hours battery life
• Some drawbacks: volume of built in speakers is very low
• Quick launch buttons in akward position -

  How to remap the quicklaunch keys download "keytweak" http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/ launch Keytweak Select "Teach mode", "Full Teach mode" Click "begin teach mode" press the calculator key. You should see number populate in the "scancode of key #1" Press the left CTRL key. You should see numbers populate in the "scancode of key #2" Click the button "remap key#1 to key#2" Click on Apply, and it will ask you to reboot. After that, you will now have two left-CTRL keys. You can also use this app to remap any other keys.

Laptops available from Frys

• $1499 - Gaming notebook - Asus ASUS G51IJ-A1 Notebook PC featuring an Intel Core i7-720QM Mobile Processor
  • 640GB 7200RPM * 4GB ram * (1920x1080)
  • Replaced one of the 320 gig hardrives with a cosair 64 SSD 220 mbs read and 180 mbs write as you suggested.
• $1999 - HP-ENVY 15-1050NR Simply envisionary notebook featuring Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor with Windows® 7 Premium
• $1999 - SONY AW270YQ (Intel® Centrino® 2 T9550 processor 2.66GHZ 6MB L2 - 6GB ram - 1TB hard drive - 18.4" with XBRITE-FullHD™ Technology (1920 x 1080)
  • Available in Sacramento 4100 Northgate Blvd - 68 miles
  • Sony review list price $3299
  • Blueray R/W drive
  • 1-2 hours battery power
  • 17.2"(W) x 1.45 - 1.56"(H) x 11.4"(D)

• $2499 - Apple MC226LL/A MacBook Pro Aluminum 17" (1920x1200), 2.8GHz (6MB L2), 4GB, 500GB HD, MultiTouch Glass Trackpad
  • 8 hours battery life, lasts for 5 years

• $1499 - Toshiba X505-Q830 18.4" Gaming notebook featuring an Intel® Core™ i7-720QM
  • Quad core - 1680x945
  • Intel® Core™ i7-720QM, 1.6 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.80GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB Mobile Intel® PM55 Express Chipset

• $1949 - Sony Z850G/B notebook PC featuring an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8800 with Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit 1600x900
• $2799 - Toshiba X305-Q708 (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.53GHZ 12MB L2 Cache - 1440x900 - Eligible for free Windows 7 Upgrade
• $2399 - Sony VGN-SR280Y/H 13.3" (Intel Centrino2 P8400 3GB RAM 320GB HDD - Sony (VGN-SR280Y/H) - 1280x800

Laptops available from Sonystyle

most portable - 1600x768

Laptops currently available from Best Buy

• HP Envy 15

Laptops with screens smaller than 1920x1080

• $999 Sony - VAIO Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Chocolate Brown - Model: VGN-FW560F/T | SKU: 9556198 - Intel® Core™2 Duo processor P7450; 6GB DDR2 memory; 6-cell lithium-ion; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with Blu-ray Disc support; 16.4" widescreen; 500GB hard drive; built-in webcam; Bluetooth; Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 1600x900 - 3 hours battery life
• $2299 - Apple® - MacBook® Pro with 15.4" Display - Aluminum - 1440x900 screen
• $2799 - Asus - Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor - Black - Model: VX5-A2B | SKU: 9568167 - Intel® Core™2 Quad processor Q9000; 6-cell lithium-ion battery; 4GB DDR3 memory; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with Blu-ray Disc support; 16" widescreen; 1TB hard drive; fingerprint reader; built-in webcam; Bluetooth; Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
  • 16" LED-backlit LCD high-definition widescreen display - With 1366 x 768 resolution brings movies and games to life.
• $1529 - Alienware - Laptop with Intel® Core™ i7 Processor - Cosmic Black - Model: M15X-242CSB | SKU: 9568023
  • 4GB DDR3 memory - For multitasking power, expandable to 8GB.

• Asus - Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Black/Blue Model: G60Vx-RBBX09 | SKU: 9568112 1366x768

• $1149 - Asus - Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Black - Model: G72GX-RBBX05 | SKU: 9556125
  • 17.3" LED-backlit LCD high-definition plus widescreen display - With 1600 x 900 resolution showcases movies and games in stunning clarity

• $799 Toshiba - Satellite Laptop with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Black Onyx - Model: P505-S8980 | SKU: 9553949
  • 18.4" TFT-LCD HD+ widescreen display - With TruBrite technology and 1680 x 945 resolution showcases movies and games in stunning clarity.

• $1299 - HP - Pavilion Laptop with Intel® Core™ i7 Processor - Model: dv7-3085dx | SKU: 9556312
  • 17.3" LED-backlit high-definition plus widescreen display - With BrightView technology and 1600 x 900 resolution delivers intense detail and clarity.

downtown san francisco store - 1770 harrison (at 13th), next to costco - zipcode 94103

Improving your new laptop Usually Laptop manufactures install many useless programs/demo games; this really slows down the system. One solution to this; is to do a clean windows 7 install, and then download/setup whatever device drivers windows 7 didn't detect. Finally use windows backup and restore and make a complete system image and store it in another hard drive (or partition/ external harddrive/usb pen drive /blueray disk/dvd disk etc). At the end of backup process it will ask you whether you want to make a bootable disk, do make one just in case your hd malfunctions.