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

It gets harder and harder to name things, doesn't it? Qosmio, wow. So many names are copyrighted or trademarked you can hardly come up with anything new. 15 years ago I worked for a company that went through a name change after the split of the original founders. It was quite educational. We hired a California company that specialized in this and had come up with the brand names Pentium and Lexus, among others. They wound up coming up with a good one for us. Their main rep explained that a company name is an empty vessel, into which all kinds of things can be poured. There was a lot of conversation. Some of their brainstorming suggestions were hilarious, like Blacktop Software. On the company retreat some of us got busy on the flip chart during a coffee break. BSOD Inc. Three Guys Coding. Like that. Eventually during the insanity of invention the name Geneer was chosen. It was a good choice because it hinted at the fact that half the company were engineers. It was a software company with an engineering outlook. Wow, what a great place to work. I am doubtful that I will work anywhere as cool again.

It went broke, but still.