You might want to tell us what type of research. I do research as well as software development & engineering, but my work also requires 3D graphics and number crunching.
The laptops I presently have are a Dell M60 and M70. I am looking at replacing the M60 with a Dell M6300 or M4300. These are not cheap machines and are probably overkill for what you may be doing. Please… ‘need more input’…