In my humble opinion, the best laptop machine for developers would be a Dell Precision Laptop with the following minimum specifications: CPU: Core i7 720QM (2GHz 6MB Cache) - Quad core (with hyperthreading this should appear as 8 cores in Task Manager) RAM: 4GB 1333MHz dual channel (preferably 6GB with triple channel memory 3x2GB) Note: 64-bit OS required for anything above 4GB RAM. HDD: 320GB 7200rpm 16MB burst cache (preferably 500GB) Graphics: NVIDIA FX3800M 1GB RAM with 2 or 3 ports (1 VGA, 1 DVI, 1 DP or whatever combination you prefer) to support multiple monitors OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (because everybody should start porting their applications to 64-bit, or planning to, if they haven't started already. Certainly the major manufacturers are (Microsoft, Adobe etc.). 64-bit capable hardware has been around for quite a few years now and, if I am not mistaken, Windows 64-bit versions have been polished over at least three iterations (Windows XP 64-bit -> Vista 64-bit -> 7 64-bit). ... and USB3 of course as this is much faster then the present USB2 standard. I leave the rest to your imagination. Without criticising specific Manufacturers or models, whatever you do don't get anything other than a precision because it has the best most comfortable keyboard for typing lots of code. Other laptops are good for end users or power users, but their keyboards leave a lot to be desired. I hope this helps.