"How can render times vary by such a large amount, some of the computer specs don't sound a lot different then mine?"

very easily. add reflections, indirect lighting, soft shadows, antialiasing, low min shading rate, etc and the rendertime climbs.

 

"Ps.  I will add that anyone who is serious about doing 3D graphics should get a desktop not a laptop computer."

very true. laptop CPUs/GPUs run significantly slower than their desktop 'equivalents', they cost much more, and theyre not really user serviceable. ill be travelling again in 2012 so i will eventually need to pick up a newer one, but every month i put the purchase off gets me a much better machine.

the prevalence of laptops seems to confuse people nowadays. they think 'why should i buy a desktop for $600 when i can buy a laptop for $500?' etc. same sortof mentality goes for WIFI - i had a client that was connecting to his router from a few feet away with wireless.... when i told him i could just make him a 4 foot ethernet cable he said 'but why would i want to do that? WIFI is better'. we really need a facepalm smiley.