a laptop for graphic design work

I am a graphic designer and shopping for a PC laptop that can handle large image file manipulations in and between PhotoShop, Illustration and InDesign. My budget is $1,500. Performance and stability are more important then portability. The only thing I know is that the higher RAM the better (512 MB is minimum). Do I need to be particular about the graphic card?

Any recommendations would be much appreciated.[].

 

Try looking at the Inspiron 8600 for a good screen that's within your budget.

As far as graphics go, I recommend finding a notebook with an ATI graphics card, min 32Meg or 64meg for a uwxga screen (don't skimp on the screen if your're a designer). ATI's products run cooler than nvidias in the mobile space, and ati is performance leader to boot (m10 or 9600pro is the top mobile solution).

I Pentium M with at least 1.4GHz speed, I wouldn't blow too much money going any higher. Spend more on RAM, 1GB of RAM is really nice to have if you can afford it.

 

A bit of a warning...the Inspiron 8600 has been getting a significant amount of negative reviews from users based on the research that I have done. There appears to be some quality issues with some of the parts they are using.

Also, some of the beefed up 8600's have a surprisingly low battery life for a Centrino notebook (although considerably better than other notebooks)