Laptop suggestions?

After trying to wrangle an iPad into doing my bidding, it's just not worth it trying to pump any kind of RAW based workflow through it. It's an excellent viewer, but it can't do PP imho beyond tagging (I've tried a dozen apps!). I need a laptop to do PP on the road and improve my turn-around time.

Synopsis: Amateur photographer/videograp​her looking to pursue this as a hobby that eventually can at least pay for itself. I'm just learning what I don't know, and so the sky is the limit. I am skilled with computers and am a programmer at heart.

Current equipment:

• Canon 600D w/ ML
  
• EF-S 18–55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II (kit lens)
  
• Buying: EF 50mm f/1.8 I/II
  
• 32GB SDHC (slightly too slow) + Buying: faster 32/64GB SDHC/SDXC
  
• Canon LP-E8 Battery + Generic LP-E8 Battery (both have been great!)
  
• Bad Targus Tripod Replacing
  
• Considering: a cheap camcorder that can be kept on a tripod. 1920p@60fps is ideal, but will settle for 1920p@30fps + 1280p@60fps
  
• iPhone 5: The ultimate in candid photography. Good for quick JPEG shots. Experimented with GPS logging for the 600D, but it's a pain and burns battery too quickly.
  
• iPad 4 (family's): Good for displaying a rough or finished product. Retina display and factory calibrated for sRGB out of the box. Not good for RAW or color-managed PP.
  

• Good monitor. (1080p minimum resolution. IPS. Good gamut (sRGB as much as possible, decent factory calibration: will acquire colorimeter later. Fast refresh rate. 120Hz is a bonus but optional. High contrast, etc.))
  
• Optional: Retina-style display. This is expensive, so it can be sent to the chopping block!
  
• Linux-compatible.
  
• 13-14" is ideal, will consider 12-15.4" if needed.
  
• 64GB+ SSD disk.
  
• Optional: Additional internal HDD so I don't have to carry around an external HDD.
  
• Reasonable RAW processing.
  
• OpenCL video card. Also so I can play games.
  
• Multitouch trackpad.
  
• Internal DVD+/-RW.
  
• Internal SD/SDHC/SDXC card reader.
  
• HDMI external output
  
• 450Mbps b/g/n dual-band (2.4Ghz + 5Ghz).
  
• Optional: Touchscreen abilities of any kind.
  

• Raw power: Have my Frankenstein workstation at home.
  
• Large battery: Usually I can plug-in.
  
• OS.
  
• Software.
  
• Lightweight. I work out!
  

Lenovo Thinkpad X230T is meant to be excellent. Read about it here.

Still a bit pricey, but I picked up a Surface Pro about a month ago, and I don't see myself ever taking my laptop on the road with me again. It's a full Windows 8 OS with a i5 processor, so it's really more laptop than tablet, especially if you add the optional (and also expensive) keyboard. I still see myself using a desktop for any heavy PP work, so I haven't installed Photoshop on the tablet, but it runs Lightroom like it was a desktop.

tim wrote in post #16019344
Lenovo Thinkpad X230T is meant to be excellent. Read about it here.

This is surprisingly attractive to me, and looks like it can survive a TSA encounter. Any personal experience?

The low resolution can be worked around if the tactile interface can let me quickly zoom in and out, for example. My only concern is the screen color fidelity: sRGB is fine, as long as it's a "good" sRGB.

IslandCrow wrote in post #16021681
Still a bit pricey, but I picked up a Surface Pro about a month ago, and I don't see myself ever taking my laptop on the road with me again. It's a full Windows 8 OS with a i5 processor, so it's really more laptop than tablet, especially if you add the optional (and also expensive) keyboard. I still see myself using a desktop for any heavy PP work, so I haven't installed Photoshop on the tablet, but it runs Lightroom like it was a desktop.

I will either be running Linux or Mac. I don't want my edits locked into a proprietary system. More importantly, I want to automate as much as possible and have the flexibility to make up for a lack of fancy equipment, and I want to be able to do it from the command line all the way to the point of input SD card with RAWs/JPEGs (sRGB or Adobe RGB 1998)/MOVs, output color-corrected sRGB JPEG/.h264 mp4 iPad-ready proofs with lens correction, noise cleaning, and sharpening (removing in-camera sharpening lets me burst more RAWs at the expense of additional post-processing). I can't do it in Windows, and I doubt Linux will support Surface Pro anytime soon.

But don't get me wrong, it's a great suggestion.

My experience with Lenovo is a bit disappointing. Their touchpad is without doubt the worst I've ever used, and the red joystick thing doesn't help much as it is slower/less accurate. I know it is not just my laptop with this issue as I went back to the store to try and get an exchange, but the other Lenovos there were the same.

My favourite laptop so far has been a Vaio.

dpyro wrote in post #16022113
This is surprisingly attractive to me, and looks like it can survive a TSA encounter. Any personal experience?

Nope, try reading the thread I linked to, and asking Lloyd who started that thread who has the earlier model.

Retina MacBook Pro works for me. Maxed out ones are now $1000 less than at launch. Look at the price list links at www.appleinsider.com

No experience with it, but that Thinkpad x230t can purchased with an optional IPS screen.