I want a 17.3" laptop with a 2nd gen i5. I quite like the keyboard on this device, because I do a lot of typing (for both work and at home) and it feels extremely comfortable and effortless to type on. Screen size is very important to me too (to see as much code as possible in Visual Studio, Eclipse, etc). I dont play any games at all.

I had a play on my dads HP Probook 4730s and it seems pretty good, apart from the average battery life, and the slightly lower quality screen. (blacks are a little grey,and viewing angles are a little poor). I'm probably going to buy it off him, as hes a little dissatisfied with the screen quality too.

I'm investigating a better capacity battery over the the standard PRO8 battery. From the looks of the information on this link:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13981_div/13981_div.HTML
... it looks like its the only battery available for this laptop, but I'm waiting for HP to get back to me later this week with confirmation. 4 or 5 hours unplugged would be quite glorious. It looks like 2.5 to 3.5 is more realistic though.

Ideally I'd like two external displays plus the internal display on this laptop, but its not possible without a Dualhead2go or possibly an Eyefinity? But if I spend that much, perhaps I should look at a better laptop from the very start?

Does anyone have any experience and/or thoughts on this laptop?