Sandy Bridge worth the wait??

Hey, my old laptop is dying and I finally managed to convince my wife we need another one. I was planning to go for an i5 but I don't know if I should wait until Q1 2011 for the Sandy Bridge architecture to come out. Is it gonna be a big improvement over the Core generation in terms of performance and pricing? I'll be doing basic stuff, maybe playing some simple games at low settings, though I might need to run software like MathLab and VisualStudio. I am on a restricted bugdet ( wife ) but I also wanna buy something that will last me for some time. Also, any suggestions on brand would be appreciated. I don't care that much about junk software installed 'cause I'll be wiping the drive and installing Windows 7 and Linux as a dual boot as soon as I get it but hardware quality and compatibility is obviously a must.
Note: I've had good experience with AMD powered desktops but I don't know how good they are on laptops. I've been hearing a lot of good things about Intel lately and that's why I'm going that way. Let me know if I'm mistaken and there is and alternative on AMD's side.
Thanks,
Ale

Well, if your old laptop can hold on a bit longer, I think it would be worthwhile to hold out for both Sandy Bridge and Bulldozer (AMD's newest architecture). I believe that Intel moved up the release date for Sandy Bridge to Q4, at least for desktop chips (not sure about mobile chips). Bulldozer should hit in Q1 2011.

Here's a general idea of what Sandy Bridge will be:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy [...] hitecture)

In the end though, if the laptop gives out, there's nothing wrong with going with the current Intel chips on the market, i.e. the core i series. Check this link out to get an idea of what the current generation of chips have to offer in regard to performance:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobil [...] 436.0.html

Sandy bridge begins production late quarter 4, at best your looking at christmas for desktops even later for mobiles. This year intel focused on new moible processors and relesed atleast 10 new chips if you want mobile theres no reason to wait at all. I would get a 32nm moible chip right now if you want a new mobile device, if you want desktop it's worth the wait but you will have to wait a minimum of 4-5 months. Btw no overclocking in sandy bridge if thats something youre into.