I've got a 17" i7 Macbook Pro w/8gb ram and an SSD. Video card is mid range at best (GT 330M w/512mb), nothing crazy, but solid. I've used it to make some pretty heavy characters (in zbrush, mudbox & XSI), no problems. Light weight (as far as a 17" laptop goes), great battery life too.
Desktops are the way to go. Having said that if you absolutely need a high performance laptop and have money to burn the new Asus G73SW might be worth looking into. sandy bridge cpu, gtx460 gpu, 8gb ram, 1080p screen, dual hard drive slots for 1x ssd boot drive and 1x storage drive.…
id be tempted by a mac...sure they are overpriced....sure ill get flamed... but the build quality is better than any another laptop ive had by miles and miles and if your lugging it around... they also look way better in a presentation than most other plasticy laptops that are cheaper IMO not sure about the size of files…