I'm hardly a regular in the posting department these days, I am however due for a personal computer upgrade and am keen on a laptop/notebook of the desktop replacement variety.

I've looked at a few but really whilst I am technologically literate am note sure how to juggle the competing specifications given my loose requirements.

I have gathered through my research that the Core 2 Duo processors exceed current AMD offering (I assume when comparing apples with apples) so I am inclinded for are Core 2 Duo based machine.
I want to run vista and anticipate using Ultimate or Home Premium (unless the machine came with business then the switch would be excessive). This will require a capable graphics package which is ultimately my weak point because I have never cared too much before.

RAM will be 1GB or if something comes with 2 it is a bonus, a RAM upgrade is likely depending on the price point.

It would be a stretch to be spend much more than $3k and $2.5-3k is the likely price range.

I'm not after an ultra portable laptop and as a desktop replacement 100GB+ storage, DVD writer and multiple USB ports are important.

The way I use computers is I do lots of things at once (firefox with a million tabs), downloading, reading and doing other things in the background so a competent multi tasking machine is what I am after.

So any thoughts would be welcome and if you can recommend any configurations to go with or avoid it would be helpful
Cheers