I accepted a new job, which comes with my choice of Dell laptop. I made a case for a server-class machine, and for a portable one, so if you were an ASP.NET and SQL developer, which machine would you choose?

I notice what seems like the most powerful laptop in Dell's business class is the only core 2 duo that doesn't say 64 bit compatible. Is that an oversight? I think all of the new chips were A64?

I think that all of the core 2 processors are 64 bit. The problem you will run into though is getting the 64 bit software. Most everything is coming with the 32 bit version of windows vista. You might see if you can upgrade that.
Im not sure what would be a good choice for asp.net and SQL, but I would just make sure you get something with a fast processor, gobs of ram, and a pretty big hard drive.

I thought the same thing about all the core 2s being 64 bit, and after some research, it's true ... they just don't mention that about this particular machine.

I ordered it with XP 64, but we're bought a license to Windows Server x64 for the computer. I think I'm going to be limited to the 32 bit version of SQL Server, but IIS should run in 64 bit space, and I got the 4 GB model, so when SQL needs it, it'll see the full 4 gigs at least.

The company ordered the M4300 for me as as a workstation. I'm working there as an ASP.NET programmer, so running a copy of the entire site locally, and there's a lot of slow, heavy-hitting SQL stuff that needs to be cleaned up.