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It's been 6 years since I got a new laptop so I bought a new one last night. Specs:
i7, 16GB RAM, and 1TB storage. The display is a whopping 17.3'' and it was one of the only models to still include an optical drive. It came with Win 8.1 Home. After the initial setup, I went ahead and upgraded it to 10 Home, then to 10 Pro. So far, the experience has been good, though I haven't really started using it yet.
The goad was to replace both my current desktop and laptop which are both 6 years old and running out of free space. My only problem with the laptop is the problem I have with every laptop...the keyboard isn't great. If I can find that PS/2 to USB plug, I can continue to use my favorite keyboard that came with my first windows system around '98! I'm really looking forward to ridding my office of the insanely loud case/cpu fans in my current desktop rig. 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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you didn't say what 'brand' - some manufacturers have 'docking stations' which are great for home/office vs portable connectivity
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It's a HP Envy m7-n011dx. There doesn't appear to be a docking station, so I'd have to get one of those universal rigs... like this.[^]
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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looks like a serviceable option - my big worry with having to purchase a new laptop is
"It came with Win 8.1 Home. After the initial setup, I went ahead and upgraded it to 10 Home, then to 10 Pro."
I'd rather stick with 7 Pro or Ultimate. Im considering 'porting' my poor Sony Vaio Z series to a VM on Mac Parallels to keep Win 7 alive a bit longer
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Just take time to look for comments on the Internet...
I got a Thinkpad USB 3.0 docking station and it Works, but the images on my two 24" displays are slow (I mean when I move a window I can see it stuttering).
Ensure you get something you can return or at least that has no bad comments on the Internet.
Good luck! 
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kmoorevs wrote: it was one of the only models to still include an optical drive
I would expect a laptop that big to come with an optical drive. But are you saying that the trend now is to not include optical drives even on big laptops?
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Richard Andrew x64 wrote: But are you saying that the trend now is to not include optical drives even on big laptops?
That does seem to be the trend, as only a few of the dozen or so 15'' and up models that I looked at had one.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Nice, but no SSD? IMHO that's a game changer, esp. for development machines.
/ravi
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kmoorevs wrote: Win 8.1 Home
You could always upgrade to Windows 10!
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kmoorevs wrote: The display is a whopping 17.3''
Must be quite heavy. Do they still call them laptops'?
Well, my laptop is not as big, and may not be as heavy, but still a pain to carry everyday from office to home and back.
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Having battled for almost a week to get Windows 10 installed on my system (I had to download the .iso and do it the hard way), I have decided to go back to 7. Some of my most important and useful apps will not run on 10, owing to the fact that Microsoft, in their wisdom, decided to make sure there were lots of incompatibilities. So, thanks Microsoft, for wasting my time and using up almost a month's download bandwidth. 
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Richard MacCutchan wrote: Some of my most important and useful apps will not run on 10,
The only report of incompatibility I've read about so far is one of their own, Microsoft Money, because it relies on IE6 components that have finally been trashed.
What are those apps you have that won't run?
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If I'm honest, that's the only one so far. But there are a few other issues that I find put me off. Chances are, that once I have a replacement money program I will come back and try again.
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Oh, are you saying it turns out this is the incompatible software you're trying to use?
See my reply to Rage below.
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Yes, my original comment was born out of the frustration of spending a week, and most of my monthly download allowance, trying to get Windows 10 installed. For some reason the auto installer would not work, and it took quite a few attempts before I got the .iso file downloaded safely. Whereas, upgrading my wife's Windows 8.1 system was automatic, and took less than an hour. So I had one good experience and two bad: a third system is still not able to run the auto updater, and I need a different (32-bit) iso to do it.
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Richard MacCutchan wrote: and most of my monthly download allowance
What is a download allowance?
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I don't have a download allowance. I can download as much as I want. This is the reason why I ask.
I can only assume that your internet vendor has you on a restricted contract for how much you can download per month, which is just silly, to me. Sorry.
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No. I don't.
I pay more for speed, but not for volume/amount. I can download till the cows come home and I don't pay extra for that. This must be for wireless perhaps? A UK thing? I don't know. 
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It just depends how the ISP charges for their service. And wireless has nothing to do with it, that is just local in your home. My package limits me to 20Gb per month during "charging hours", which leaves some freedom for dowloading overnight. In general this is more than enough, but a few failed downloads of the Windows 10 images soon ate into it.
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20Gb? I can do that on a Monday. Might one suggest that you first priority should be a new ISP?
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Why? I don't spend my life downloading; 20Gb is more than enough for an average month.
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dandy72 wrote: Microsoft Money
WOw wow wow. I had the upgrade going on tonight, and did not know about that. That would be _really_ annoying, if money would not work anymore.
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