I am a nerd's nerd...and I 100% recommend you NOT to buy a Dell.
Spring for a Toshiba Tecra - it's their "heavy duty"/professional model - and you will not regret it.
Core i5 or i7 laptops are great (toshiba has them direct here:
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...esults Matrix ... or just search online for better deals.). I bought mine at Newegg for about 400$ less than what toshiba direct wanted.
I'll probably catch a lot of flak for saying "Dell sucks"...but when you really feel the difference in the laptop...you'll understand. I will never buy anything but a Toshiba again.