Thank you for the replies thus far... any particular brands I should avoid? I love the light feel of thekeyboard on my aged HP Compaq so that will also be a factor.. no clonky keyboards hehehe
From browsing the 'net it would appear that I should be thinking of the following spec:
CPU: Intel i5/i7 (min2.0Ghz)
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD5850 / NVidia GEForce330m (separate graphics as opposed to "built in"??)
RAM: Min 4G
Networking: 802.11n and.. Ethernet jack
Storage: Min 500GB
Anyything else? Is this too optimistic for mid-range price? Which brand might be a "best fit"? Which brand has best after-sales service (given that vendors these days always refer one back to a manufacturer)!!