IT guys and gals - please help me spec a new laptop!

[The GECCO]

OK, so I find that I'm using my laptop as a TV more and more with Netflix, Amazon On Demand, etc and I often hook up to my TV with an HDMI cable and use a dual monitor setting so I can watch on the TV and still work on the laptop screen. This has proven to be quite taxing to my current machine. It gets quite warm and has gone into some kind of "failure mode" a couple times, I think just before melting itself.

The specs on my current machine are:
HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC
AMD Turion X2 Dual Core Mobile RM-72 2.10 Ghz
4.0 GB RAM
64 bit OS
Vista Home Premium SP2

Other than the TV/video I use it for typical stuff - surfing, documents, spreadsheets, itunes, nothing terribly taxing.

So, given my uses, what would I need to change in order to have the muscle necessary to handle what I do? I assume more processing speed and/or RAM, but is there more to it than that? Any other specs or particular attributes/devices I should pay attention to?

Thanks in advance for the help!!

[Sean]

What about getting a Ruku box for the TV? Then it wouldn't effect your laptop.

www.roku.com

[t_jolt]

i feel that a good graphics card would help significantly. This should help temps as well.
Also a quad core would help as well. As the Intel infrastructure for the i5, and i7 do help a lot with video coding, play back etc...

You combined those two, and you have a awesome playback laptop.

These guys offer great stuff.

http://www.xoticpc.com/

They are based out of Nebraska. I will be ordering my next laptop from them.
Also ASUS Republic of gamers brand laptops should be able to handle this as well without much of a sweat. If you dont want to customize.

Tyrel

[The GECCO]

What about getting a Ruku box for the TV? Then it wouldn't effect your laptop.

www.roku.com

Good question, but I'm moving around a lot. I have a "home" at HPR in addition to my regular home, and I'm on the road a lot, so it's just as easy to have the laptop do it all, ya know? Plus, some of the stuff I watch isn't available on something like that (I don't think?) such as Racing Underground, MOTOGP.com, etc. You have to have a browser and/or download onto a hard drive then play, and I don't think ROKU or others can do that (?) Maybe I'm wrong? Is there a better solution?

[The GECCO]

How about this spec set on an HP dv7t:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-840QM Quad Core processor (1.86GHz, 8MB L3 Cache)with Turbo Boost up to 3.2 GHz
Graphics card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 DDR3 Graphics [HDMI, VGA] - For Quad Core Processor
Memory 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)

Just right or too much?

[Sean]

Plus, some of the stuff I watch isn't available on something like that (I don't think?) such as Racing Underground, MOTOGP.com, etc. You have to have a browser and/or download onto a hard drive then play, and I don't think ROKU or others can do that (?) Maybe I'm wrong? Is there a better solution?

Nope, it wouldn't work for that. My understanding is that there is no browser or hard drive. You can only stream from designated sources. Sorry, just trying to throw out a cheap option for you. Good luck!

[The GECCO]

Nope, it wouldn't work for that. My understanding is that there is no browser or hard drive. You can only stream from designated sources. Sorry, just trying to throw out a cheap option for you. Good luck!

Hey I appreciate the effort, I looked into a few of those options and thought they may fall a bit short. Would be nice if they would fit the bill, though!

[salsashark]

I picked up a Sony Vaio last year to replace a crapped out DV9. It's got pretty similar specs (2.2 GHz processor) and it seems to get along all right. I certainly wouldn't hesitate picking up another one.

Bought it at Microcenter for around 800'sh.

[JonnyD]

When they first came out I got a core2duo Alienware M11x with 4GB Ram. The thing works GREAT for everything I need, and has a selectable graphics card that when you select the onboard - battery life goes WAY up. Taken it on many flights, and it has a built in 720p monitor. Right now, they start at $599 on Alienware's site. Maybe that's up your alley? Of course you can spec something much higher, and mine doesn't get terribly hot doing anything. I've used mine as my primary computer for almost the last year.
I also play WoW on it on an external 22" monitor, and have tested the HDMI out with movies.

[Panman06]

How about this spec set on an HP dv7t:

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-840QM Quad Core processor (1.86GHz, 8MB L3 Cache)with Turbo Boost up to 3.2 GHz
Graphics card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 DDR3 Graphics [HDMI, VGA] - For Quad Core Processor
Memory 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)

Just right or too much?

That setup will probably be good for 4-5 years before you "outgrow" it. One additional suggestion if you have cable/satellite service is to look into a Slingbbox. I've got a Slingbox HD and it's awesome when I travel for work.

[laspariahs]

Get a thinkpad, never been disappointed.

[Wrider]

I've got an HP Pavilion DV7 that works pretty well... Haven't found a way to tax it to it's limits yet and I mess around with Google Earth on one screen, watching a high def video on the other screen.
I'm running a Core i5 450M @2.4 GHz, 4 gigs of RAM, a Radeon 5650 vid card.
My RAM and disk transfer speeds are the bottlenecks in my system.

[Nick_Ninja]

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 940XM Quad Core Processor, 2.13GHz (3.33GHz Turbo Mode, 8M Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English
VIDEO CARD Dual 1024 MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5870 with ATI CrossFireX™ technology
HARD DRIVE 256GB Raid 0 (2x 128GB Solid State HDDs)
LCD PANEL 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

[Ricky]

I would only say stay away from AMD processors. But that's a lifelong preference. You pay less, you get less. Period.

With a RAID setup going over an on-board RAID controller (i.e. Intel) you're asking for more problems than you will see in performance gains. Stick with one HDD unless you get a really good RAID controller.