I'm looking at laptops now. I'm being rather impatient since I'm currently stuck on an Atom which is good for just about nothing. I'd like to get a Lenovo W5*0. With the rebates and an educational discount I can get a W510 with 2GiB RAM, 1080p screen, and an i7-820QM for ~$1500. After adding in an SSD and 16GiB RAm (I plan on removing the 2GiB stick) I think the total cost would be $1900-$2000. $2000 is the strict upper limit of my budget. And please don't suggest getting less RAM or skimping on the screen or getting something consumery. I plan on running many virtual machines and disabling pagefile, and I trust Thinkpads for their build quality unlike any other brand.
The question is, should I try and go for it or should I wait for Sandy Bridge and go for one of the lower end quads? I can only go for the 820 now because it's on a serious discount due to them trying to clear out inventory. If I go for the 820 I'll probably try to get a reconditioned one and save an additional $100.
Edit:
Quick check puts the laptop @ $1500 and change and the upgrades @ $390 ($230 for 128GiB C300 on Newegg right now and $160 for 16GiB of GSkill or Corsair RAM)