Any laptop will do a pretty good job. As far as Macs go the cheapest one Fry's had here when I bought this PC laptop was $1300.00 more. You could buy two of these for that price.
I will probably get a little flack for this...but I use at home two machines...a IMac and Sony VGN-SZ650n.....both workout great for me....the sony is very portable when you just want to get up and move around...I do have the glossy screen...but never had too big of an issue outside..except for the glare...I am in Houston..so you do not sit outside much and do work...too humid...the one really big thing I have found always put the max ram in the unit...If you are looking for really portable...the sony ux380n is perfect...when I go on trips...very good little laptop to store and do some work...to small to really do alot of work though...
I use both systems...Mac and PC...both have thier pluses and minuses...I like the sony's because you can by the extra long life batteries...for them...
If you still like the Levino....I know Office Depot had some for under $600.00 with 3gigs of ram...the other day...
Hope this helps..
Tony C.
PS....and by the way if you would like to run Mac on the PC laptop..you can get a copy of OSx86 online...that will install on any PC laptop that has SSE3 on it....every new laptop can run it...(yes it does work and I did test it on the Sony....only issue...memory stick ports do not work...and the Wifi did not work...so I put vista back on the PC)
Ditto for the 2 thumbs up for MacBook Pro laptops. I switched from Dell computers (laptop, workstation and 2 PCs) about 18 months ago and I've never been happier. I have to run Windows using Parallels on my MacBook Pro laptop to run Windows specific software for my financial planning practice so I see everyday how much easier to use the Mac is compared to Windows. Also, 90% of my tech support issues are with the Windows.
For running Photoshop CS3, Lightroom 2.0, Bridge and MS Office, I use Macs running the latest version of Leopard. As the ads claim, they just work!
Lenovo's are built like tanks but don't weigh much. My T42 weighs in at 4lb 12oz, with a 14 inch screen (not a fan of its screen, I use a separate screen for editing). We just received some T61s, the screen is much better, a little heavier, but still has the dropcage for the HD. Nice laptop, about the same price as a Macbook, which is also nice. Give a choice I'd go for the T61 just for durability.
Whatever laptop you get for photo editing there is a good chance that the screen will not do a good job of covering the sRGB colour gamut - especially if it's a cheap laptop but probably even if it's an expensive one. This issue is independent of screen calibration and colour profiling which are highly recommended but cannot produce colours that the monitor cannot display. Therefore be careful what photo editing you do on a laptop.
Also, if there is a chance that you'll want to do editing on the laptop while using an external screen for greater resolution and/or better colours then be sure that the graphics card in the laptop can support the resolution of that external screen. Chances are that you will not be able to upgrade the graphics card like you can in a desktop computer.
My "day job" is working for a company that is a Lenovo reseller so I ended up with a Lenovo T61 with a 3-yr on-site warranty with accidental damage coverage.
I did price out several different comparable Dell laptops (with 3-year on-site warranty), which all came out to only about $100-$150 less (with the coupon codes) than the Lenovo. However, because Dell laptops are plastic compared to the ThinkPad carbon-fiber shells, Lenovo won (not to mention the feature that turns off your hard drive when you accidentally drop the laptop). Each of my Dell laptops over the years has developed small cracks on the corners of the shell, which I hate. My friends with ThinkPads (some several years old) all still do not have those annoying little cracks.
Also the Lenovo is coming with a 14-inch screen with 1440x900 resolution, which is great plus! I couldn't find that resolution screen as an option on the Dell laptops I looked at. Also that little task light above the display which shines on the keyboard is great for when I have to use the laptop in a conference or darken room.
It should be here in a week, so I am excited anticipating its arrival.
