I was in Radio Shack a while ago. Almost bought a laptop, but restrained my impulsiveness, so I could research them a bit. And of course, seek the sage advice of this group of IT / electronic experts.

I use my laptop primarily for two things. I calibrate my displays with it, and I tune vehicles.

The things I need:

1) Sometimes I'll have three USB inputs, so I need to have at least three of those.
2) A pretty good battery.
3) At least a 15" display, preferably larger, but the laptop can't be huge, because I carry it back and forth from the vehicle to the house.
4) It can't be a fragile thing, but not "tough book" tough either.
5) I'd love the screen to be glare resistant. My current laptop screen is very difficult to see when sunlight hits it.
6) Thin and easy to carry around would be great.
7) My software runs on Window. No Apple compatibility.

When I use it for tuning, I plug the interface into the laptop. Then I scan the engine/trans as I drive the vehicle, or when it's on the dyno. After I get the data I need, I then go into the tune file and make changes. One of the things I work is VE tables, and they are 3D. This is why I need the larger screen. It's hard to see the little dips and valleys in the 3D cube on a small display. Here is an example to give you an idea of what it is I'm trying to describe.... http://www.hptuners.com/products/vcmsuite/ssl_vcmeditorgfx.jpg

The cube can be rotated, and viewed from all angles. I then just grab a line with the mouse curser, and move the line up/down/right/left as needed.

Sometimes I'll just find somewhere to park while in the car to make some tweaks to the tune. In ambient daylight, this can be a challenge. Is there a particular screen type that might help in these conditions?

I'd like to keep costs under about $700.