On Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:36:28 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:

I realise that this is going to boil down largely to personal
preferences, but I'd appreciate suggestions please.

In many years of PC usage I've never owned a laptop. But I'd now like to
treat myself to a reliable, high spec, i7 model. Apart from top end
performance, large RAM and HD, other factors that come immediately to
mind are an impressive screen and that it should be as easy to use as
possible. (For laptops, that last one is probably hard: the main reasons
I've never had one is that I'm useless without my mouse!)

I would have considered a 'netbook', as internet capability and
portability are also important requirements. But I understand that
category wouldn't cover my high performance spec (which I need in
particular for video and DVD authoring.)

If I'm OT for this group, my apologies. Perhaps someone could point me
to a group or forum where I'm likely to get objective advice please?

First, forget any type of netbook. They are not designed for, nor do
they have the specs, to do what you want to do. I would consider
researching notebooks designed for gamers as games overall are the most
demanding of hardware. Do Internet searches for "best" gaming computers,
notebooks, laptops, etc. reviews. Also, see what the computer gaming
magazines have to say. Just be prepared to pay through the nose. That
type of performance doesn't come cheap.

As far as the mouse: a small USB one designed for a notebook works quite
well.

Stef