8540p/w vs 8560p vs 4530s vs 6560b (need a 15in bizbook)

My dad is looking for a new 15 in laptop for forex/day trading activities during retirement (current machine = toshiba qosmio F25) - see wtb thread here.

We had decided on an 8540w we'd found for $832- but he decided that he did not want a high resolution screen, b/c of weak eyes and the fact that it will be hooked up to external monitors most of the time.



So- that opens up more options- but what to choose? We would like to keep the purchase at around $1000- but also want a 3 year warranty. We have been looking at i5s, but could we get away with an i3? not sure. We would much prefer to go with a sandybridge machine, for the sake of future-proofing- or perhaps that isn't important? However, my dad doesn't want to wait for prices to go down (weve already made him wait since december for the new machines to come out) and would "prefer" something that isn't outdated....but are the new models overpriced?



any thoughts/advice? How does the quality of the probooks compare to the elitebooks? (Im a total novice) thanks!



ps- are dedicated graphics a must for our purposes w/ sandybridge? what about w/o?





choice list so far:



8560p (XU061UT) $972- perhaps too much to pay for a machine with standard resolution?

Intel Core™ i5-2410M (2.30 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache), 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA II, DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe, 15.6" diagonal LED-backlit HD anti-glare (1366 x 768), AMD Radeon HD 6470M with 1 GB dedicated DDR3 video memory, Broadcom 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR

Battery Type: 6-cell (62 WHr) Li-Ion battery



6560b (XU053UT) $837.14

Intel Core™ i5-2410M (2.30 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache), 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 320 GB 7200 rpm SATA II, DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe, 15.6" diagonal LED-backlit HD anti-glare (1366 x 768), Intel HD Graphics 3000, Broadcom 802.11a/b/g/n, Battery Type: 6-cell (55 WHr) Li-Ion



4530s (XU018UT) $705

Intel Core™ i5-2410M (2.30 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache), 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA II, DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL LightScribe, 15.6" diagonal LED-backlit HD anti-glare (1366 x 768), Intel HD Graphics 3000, Atheros 802.11b/g/n WiFi (1 x 1) and Bluetooth 3.0 + HS Combo, Battery Type: 6-cell (47 WHr) Li-Ion