Few things excite a geek like me more than a brand-spanking-new laptop. See, in my day job, I edit a computer-industry magazine that’s read by system and network administrators — those folks who run datacenters.

Given the demands of my job, I need a real fire-breathing computer. I also need something really portable (I don’t like lugging around laptops that weigh a ton), and something Windows-oriented (as opposed to a Mac. I love Macs, and have a MacBook Pro I use often, but a lot of the software I need to use is Windows-only).

So after much looking around, I settled on a Dell XPS Studio laptop. It’s got a Core 2 Duo processor, and I maxed out the RAM at 8GB. That’s extremely important for what I do, and there just aren’t many laptops on the market that can handle that much memory.

I also like the small form factor. I outfitted it with a wireless 802.11n card (”n” is the latest version of wireless cards, with the greatest range) and bluetooth, to add more wireless gadgets like a keyboard and mouse.

I don’t have this laptop yet — I ordered it awhile ago from Dell, and it should be arriving in my happy little hands in about 10 days. It also wasn’t cheap — not at all. But it’s not uncommon for me to have six or seven applications running at once, and 10 Web browser windows. I’m not a casual user who can get by with a netbook, although I’m a big fan of netbooks and what they offer at a low price. Since I need mucho processing power and gobs of RAM, my options are, ironically, far more limited. But I’m happy with the specs of my new machine, and can’t wait to put it through its paces.

I’ll give a fuller report once I’ve played with it awhile.