[Cdncarnut]

I have a 17" HP, with a AMD processor.
AMDs are cheaper than Intel ones and I have never had an issue with one.
I have always had good luck with HP Laptops and have had several others, for other purposes, around my house.

Unless you intend to buy an external monitor, the 17" screen is as big as you can get.
Solid state drives are all the rage now and they are more robust than the traditional drives. The robustness comes at an extra cost though.

Also, make sure that whatever software you need, for your racing, is compatible with the operating system and that the correct drivers are available.
The MSD Grid software was a challenge.
And, this year, I needed to upgrade the Autometer Stack Software, while at the track, to get my run data to download from my tach.