The default hard drive speed for most PC laptops is typically 5400rpm - which is a pretty slow drive.  If you are getting a new laptop and plan to use Visual Studio on it, I highly recommend making sure you get a 7200rpm drive instead.  You will realize a significant performance benefit by doing this.

You might assume if you are buying a top of the line laptop that "of course" it won't have a slow drive.  Don't assume this!  Check out the default configuration of this high-end Thinkpad (which is the brand I use), or the default configuration of the high-end Dell XPS laptop (whose list price starts at $3,343), or the default configuration of the 17" Apple MacBook Pro laptop ($2,799).  Notice that by default all three of these premium laptop lines have 5400rpm drives.

For an additional $55 (Lenovo), $93 (Dell) or $200 (Apple) you can upgrade the hard drive to be a 7200rpm disk instead.  Putting this small amount of extra money in the faster disk can really make a big performance difference and is an absolutely worthwhile investment.