I've been shopping around for an upgrade, and I think I've found the hot ticket (at least for me):

Panasonic ToughBook CF-37
Magnesium alloy case, takes a 3-foot drop to concrete, etc.
P3 500, 128MB, 10Gig, DB9, DB25, USB, etc.
1" Thick, 4.4 lbs, and finally the cool factor: Touchscreen!
Used price, around $400-$500.

Just ordered up two of them and we'll see how it pans out. Maybe if several people are interested, I could get a larger batch of them (like 10 or so) and we could split them up? Then again, there's some new stuff out there that's pretty darn slick and cheap too, but without Serial/Parallel and ruggedized design.

Anyways, I have been using the CF-25 (P166), but it's so heavy, slow, and no USB that it's time for an upgrade.

Anyone else have some slam-dunk experiences with a good laptop for car use?

My ThinkPad (PII, Win ME) seems to be up to the task. It plays nicely with the USB AutoPROM and TunerPro RT. It likes WinALDL as well. If it had just a wee bit more memory, I believe it might even run Win XP.

That looks like a killer laptop for automotive applications. I didn't see how many USB ports it had but if it was 2 that would be good. That would allow you to run a wireless adaptor, replace the cd-rom with a battery, and have upwards of 6 hours of test and tune.
The only thing I don't know about is the resolution. From what I've read it appears to be limited to 800x600.
The case I dig, very slick but external power switch might get hit on accidently. If you can get them for the price that you say you can then I could see a group purchase in the near future for many members. Given a month I think members should jump all over it. My friend paid over $1000 last year for a Toshiba touch screen tablet laptop that was less powerful and had no serial port!
If I hadn't already purchased a laptop recently I'd be all over this.
I have a Compaq Presario 3045us that I paid $1200 for (includes 3 year warrenty). It's a desktop replacement with it's 16" LCD and 1280x1024 resolution, 60gig HD, 512mb ram, 4 usb ports, firewire, TV-out, built in WiFi 54g, dvd-cdrw, HUGE battery (laptop weighs in over 8 lbs), 2 pcmcia, and P4 2.4Ghz. It was this or I fix my desktop and get a small laptop. I'm a big guy so I didn't mind the weight and size which I'm glad to give up for the 16" display.
The only downside to this laptop is it's display brightness and 60hz refresh. I don't notice the refresh (LCDs are good like that), but in sunlight it's nearly impossible to see. Last I looked the IBM thinkpads were top notch in every way including the display.
I have a RadioShack USB to serial adaptor for the Romulator and it works great, never a problem.

The Tough Book is a rugged machine, it is in use by many police depts (in the cars) and it even has a Mil spec for military use. Has to survive a drop from X feet, HD, screen, and all other fragile components are held by gel mounts to lessen the effects of impacts. The keyboards are sealed against moisture and dirt (sand). That is a pretty good price for one of that speed.

And yes...12" LCD's are usually limited to 800X600 resolution.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

Buy all 10 and sell them for a small profit. Sign me up for 1 if the price is around $300.

If someone like Craig was to get these I'd buy one or two from him at $300 or so each.