Thanks for the input all. Sorry been away so not able to get on line.
My wife is still using a Toshiba Satellite bought 12 years ago. It has been upgraded to W7 but the hardware is not worth mentioning here. There is an issue now with the soundcard but overall the unit is still functioning.
I think the 15" screen is the way to go with a cheap LCD for fixed location work.
Aiming for i7 with as much RAM as can be had and 500GB HD, just got to figure out which model to buy.