>Hi all, I'm in the market for a new development laptop and would welcome any recommendations, usual requirements must run VS and SS at a reasonable pace , loads of RAM etc etc..., I always end up buying a Dell but am willing to change

I've had a Toshiba Tecra for 5 years (very happy with it and it's still working well) and just changed to a Toshiba Qosmio bought in the black Friday sales for relatively cheap. They've got one expandable to 32GB RAM the x870-bt3g23 (I couldn't get this one because toshiba direct wouldn't take my international payment so I had to settle for a slightly lesser machine through Amazon).

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/laptop-model.jsp?family=qosmio&model=X870&lid=CFAMqosmio_SeriesLinkX870