Help! Need a lightweight laptop with LOTS of RAM for Graphic Design.

[Kipper is King]

I'm taking Information Design this fall, and the graphic design aspect of that means I need a fairly powerful laptop, with lots of RAM and preferably, a good, preferably non glossy display.

I bought this today: http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/...7e531a2608en02

- It has an "Ivy Bridge" Intel i7, 12GB of Ram, 1080p matte display, etc. It would be the perfect machine for me except for its size. It's huge and very heavy.

Does anyone know of any lighter alternatives that may work for me? My max budget's about $1200. I will have a good desktop at home to work on, so sacrificing some power may not be an issue.

[Itse]

I'm no expert, but having recently looked into laptops, I think you could find a Sony Vaio that suits your needs (S series I think at least has the screens you want), since they're decently light considering their performance levels. Sony has their own online shop that lets you customize according to your needs. They go up to 12-16 GB of RAM generally, although they generally ship at 6-8GB. But getting extra RAM is pretty trivial, ask any decent store if you don't want to do it yourself. (The Sony store obviously offers different RAM sizes too.)

Also I'd look into Asus Zenbooks or Samsung Series 7. (Or maybe there's some Mac option, but I wouldn't touch those things out of principle.)

[FlamingLonghorn]

If you want lighter you are most likely going to have to sacrifice screen size.

[para transit fellow]

17" laptops are a pain to lug around. I am trending to a smaller laptop with plug in monitor at my desk.

A 19" monitor is about $100

[ComixZone]

Check out Ultrabooks.

Here's one that should fit your needs (although it's an i5 and not an i7, but i7 ultrabooks do exist)

This one as well.