What kind of laptops do today's KJs use/recommend?

[ntepb]

Hi there.

I have a friend who has been pretty successful running karaoke shows for a number of years. Lately, he's been getting pretty tired of lugging around 1000's of CDs to every show, so he's looking into running his shows from a laptop computer.

He already plans on getting an external HD and Plextor CD-RW (or DVD+RW) for all of his music, so HD space isn't a concern, as well as playing his customers' CDs.

I've told him about the usage of laptops vs. desktops at other shows I've been to, as well as reading lots of forums about this topic, but he's definitely convinced of using a laptop (to save space). So there's no convincing him of using a desktop. Would've make my life a lot easier if I could convince him otherwise. And before you ask, the other KJs I deal with are using tower machines, not laptops. Also, he can't currently afford the MTU laptop systems.

I've seen the system requirements for Hoster and found some interesting laptops out there that might run Hoster. My big concern is with the S-video output. Some chips will drive multiple monitors (a.k.a. extended desktop) fine; others will only use "clone mode" or some similar variant.

With my friend's setup, he needs to be able to do the following :

1. Run the Hoster program from the laptop LCD
2. At the same time, have the karaoke song/video file output to a TV using the S-video port

Sorry to make that point a bit obvious; I've heard of some KJs who don't do this and have some rather funky setups.

What I'm curious to find out is what kind of laptops KJs who run Hoster are using these days (make & model number, please). The system doesn't have to be brand-new; I just need some recommendations on a system to try and get for this guy.

Any suggestions? Sorry about making this post so long. If anything here seems unclear as to what my friend and I are trying to accomplish, please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

Jon