Suggestions for a graphics notebook?

[neib]

Hi, first post here sorry it's a question.
Anyway my girlfriend and I are both illustrators and recently she's expressed the need for a notebook. We looked at the powerbooks for compatibility issues with our peers, but it turned out it really didn't matter that much. I would rather her have a pc notebook which is going to run photoshop, painter and illustrator far faster than any powerbook can.
I personally use a little 3d to speed up the process in my artwork, like sketchup and rhino, so I can see her using them in the future as well. Luckily those programs aren't too demanding.
I'll probably buy the ram seperate myself and install it, nowadays we typically need around 2gb min to paint those images.
So I was hoping that you could give me a suggestions for a notebook that has:

-a high resolution 15 in screen
-1.7 penium M processor or higher (or equivalent, I don't have brand loyalty)
-7200 rpm hd
-baseline graphics (enough to run a basic 3d app once and a while)
-stability and support
-good battery life

Her limit is about 2500, but I'd like her to pay less if possible.
So far i've looked at the ibm thinkpads, but they seem a little on the expensive side. I was curious if it was really worth it considering her situation.
On the other side of the coin, the acer travelmates looked good, but I couldn't find one with a 7200 rpm hard drive. Even though I hear good things, I don't know about the quality.
It seems that online reviews and forum chatters tend to have a negative position towards vaios, but everyone I know that's owned one said that they were the greatest things they've ever purchased.
Nevertheless, I'm confused as what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[omissible]

Originally posted by: neib
... a pc notebook which is going to run photoshop, painter and illustrator far faster than any powerbook can
...
-1.7 penium M processor or higher (or equivalent, I don't have brand loyalty)

That's not any faster than a PowerBook...the 2GHz P-M's are, but...???

 

[cheesehead]

An Apple powerbook can hold it's own quite well against a Pentium-M based laptop at 1.7 ghz. At 2 ghz, you might see a small difference. The PPC line of processors runs AltiVec enabled applications like PhotoShop very, very fast. They are also availible with a rather nice 7200rpm 100gb hard drive. If you really want good graphics, good Photoshop performance, and good battery life, the Powerbooks are hard to beat.
If you really want a Windows laptop, the Z71V, is a very strong performer. It's 6.5 lbs, supports DDR2 533, and all of the newest Pentium-M processors. It's got a Mobile GeForce 6600 graphics card, and with a top-of-the-line configuration, you could expect to pay 2300$ or so.

EDIT: The Z71V is avalible only in barebones form. JNCS.com is a good reseller/builder, though, and the prices are reasonable.