Speccing a Laptop

I've got roughly £1000 to blow on a laptop though I have no idea what to go for. Previous IBM's have been good but the Toshiba I got recently on Vista was hazard prone.

I'd ideally like it to be on XP Pro and have suitable graphics to support a 2nd monitor (22" wide screen Dell). Second to that I'd really like it to have a docking station that can handle mouse,keyboard,LAN etc. I know it's getting harder to find pre-built systems with a high spec on XP from the big retailers. Though I'd still like to get it from one of the big companies and not Ebay.

Any suggestions folks?


Thanks in advance! :)

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System
You can't get a docking station but good graphics, good quality, nice true life screens and a bit of graphics power.

What size are you looking for?
Something like the Sony SZ6 can have a docking station but it's really out of budget. Also vista only.

The dell xps M1330/M1530 both have HDMI which can be converted to DVI which might be handy for the 22" monitor. Also has VGA so you have a decent choice of outputs. Also vista only.

Dell Latitude Laptops
these you can get with XP and they can have docking stations but only integrated graphics.

My work laptop is an old Dell 610 Latitude (the bloody encryption software we have to use to meet req's doesn't work on the newer models) - they're not bad laptops and my work one hasn't glitched in the two years I've used it (some software issues buts down to our IT dept not Dell or the software itself... hi ho).

The docking station is nice and the ones we use have a good monitor stand which from memory is good for upto 17" CRT and 22" LCD...

If the docking station is essential you can't go too wrong with one of the Latitude's.