Accentuate the positive - thank you, that's the phrase I was looking for - so true.  Loading up the customer's own data is a definite bonus, although in some situations it can be a luxury you don't have time to prepare for. I guess it depends on the lead time for the sale, when the competition's getting their demo in, how much resource you can throw at the data load, and how long it will take to perform. Also depends if the customer's got anyone they can free up to provide the data to you for the load - it can be a dual edged sword if they see it as a burden when they don't know if they're going to buy your system yet. But I'd definitely use it as a deal-clincher if they're interested after the initial demo.

Another feature of a demo server that's useful to have is a virtual machine running on it. I would highly recommend buying the software for one of these. VMWare's my favourite (http://www.vmware.com) but there's a few offerings out there.  Nice thing about these is that you can have a clean copy of the demo machine in its original state, ready to go for the next demo, without doing an entire machine re-build.  Saves hours of effort and worth every penny. Especially useful if you're visiting one customer in the morning and one in the afternoon, it's so quick to revert to a known system that's in a reliable state, that you can depend on.  There's nothing worse than having a developer muttering about registry settings in front of a potential client whilst everyone waits around the table for the system to be fixed. Or worse still having them see the previous customer's data still in the database - theirs might still be in there for tomorrow's demo...not good.

Using a high-spec laptop is a great idea, much quicker than lugging a monitor, server and cables up stairs and lifts/elevators. It also lets you set it up for the next customer whilst someone else is driving, or whilst you're on the train, maximises use of what might otherwise be dead time between demos and reduces the irritation to the customer whilst the demo's being set up.