Asymmetrical Information

Why restrict yourself to Amazon? There are generally better deals if you go directly to a manufacturer. My personal favorite is Dell. If you google their coupons, you can usually beat most other options at the same configuration by a decent amount. And they have very solid extended warranty support.

Currently thinking Sony or Toshiba. Thoughts?

1. You're nuts if you buy anything other than a Thinkpad.
2. I would be very surprised if your employer doesn't have a deal with IBM/Lenovo.
3. It's better to buy direct.
4. If you can't buy direct, get a 14.1" T60 from Amazon, keeping in mind that you can usually add RAM to a machine for very little scratch.
5. Not only does IBM/Lenovo have the best quality and service, but they also have the best bundled software and keyboard shortcuts (for doing things like customizing external displays, managing wireless connections, et cetera).

I know you're not rich, but the 10-20% premium that one pays for a Thinkpad is money well-spent. Do you remember that all the former IT guys at the GSB had Thinkpads? Because I'd bet that 90% of them did.

I just bought a T60 myself yesterday, and am happy with it. It feels more rugged than my previous laptop (which is literally disintegrating, slowly. It's a Dell Latitude C640 that I bought used). I particularly like the keyboard; I played with a Powerbook once for a few days and _hated_ its keyboard.

The one minor problem: I bought it used, and every time I log in some program asks me for some sort of "security chip" password, which I don't know. But lack of that password doesn't seem to have prevented me from doing anything.

I travel extensively in my job as a software consultant, which leads taking computer equipment to the most abusive environment in the world - that being the security counter at the airport.

If you need a laptop, you need something thats going to take the occasional tumble onto the floor, not something that has the resiliancy of a starbucks coffee cup.

My recommendation based on my experiences with several different corporate mandated hardware standards, is the Toshiba. All the other brands make the rounds, but in the end we always end up back with the Toshiba.

I'd say go with the M6, with a minimum of 2gb.

(I've got toshiba laptops that still work and work well that are over 5 years old. I've used virtually every brand of laptop under the sun, but the Toshiba is the only one that can put up with abuse. )

I personally like Thinkpads and Sony Vaio but tastes differ.

Buy everything you MIGHT want immediately. That includes extended warranty, maximum memory, and docking station. You should get a better deal and it only hurts $$$ once.

Look for N level, the highest wireless standard available (veto any 'draft N' offerings). But the older G standard is not bad.

Any laptop will have connections for external keyboard and mouse. But look at the external graphics connector. You want a DVI connection if you can get it. (The older graphics connection is VGA.)

I like Best Buy stores. When you have trouble they are right there in the neighborhood and they know what they are doing. But online usually wins on price.

My employer switched us all from Toshiba to IBM/HP and its working well. Even with your gift certificates you may still find a better deal at other sites/stores summarized on deals2buy.com - you could always get add-on software at amazon. And max out the RAM. isight would also do you good with your video blogging

I bought my Sony Vaio SZ-mumble-mumble six months ago - completely tricked up with Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, DVD writer, enormous HDD and a cellular connection that I don't use. Usually by this time in the life-cycle of a laptop, I'm ready to move on to the next one, but I'm still quite happy with it. It's light, thin, powerful, and has a big enough, bright enough screen to satisfy my 46yo eyes. Decent battery power, but I'm not the type to watch a movie or run enormous spreadsheet apps while flying cross-country. I'm a road warrior of sorts, so light & rugged-ish is important, but I am obsessively careful with the packing and handling while on the road, so it may not be as rugged as I think it is. Bottom line, though, I tend to think you should be careful with a piece of gear that costs $2000. Heck, gear that costs $100...

FWIW, I switched from a Toshiba, and I didn't buy a Thinkpad, because neither had the Core2Duos when I was ready to buy. But nothing I've looked at from either since is as light and easy handling as this Vaio. However, both of those have stood the test of time as a road-warrior machine in my career.

I got my mother a Sony Vaio at Christmas, through your Amazon store, and she's quite happy with it. It was a 15" one, however, so I guess it doesn't qualify. I have a Dell Inspiron (also 15") and have generally been pleased except for a power cord that stopped working after a year and a half and having to replace the screen -- but that one was my fault. (Who knew you should carry your laptop around by the screen.) I can't speak to ThinkPads because it's been too long since I've seen one.

My advice: reconsider getting a mac. I switched from windows a 1.5 years ago, and after 2 weeks, was happy I did. My current strategy - get the low end macbook ($1100), and plan on getting a new one yearly. In a year, the new low end macbook will be faster than a year-old high end macbook pro ($2500).

And there is a such a thing as machine-feng-shui. Windows just doesn't have it -- Apple does. This may seem like b.s., but people who switch realize that benefit. Get parallels if you really need to use outlook.

That being said, I am not religious about it. I know that mac hardware is crap. Make sure you get the warranty when your year end approaches. Or, do what I do, and get a new machine.

If you ignore this advice, I've had good experiences with Sony. Whatever you buy, buy as if you're going to buy again in a year. It'll stop you from buying the cadillac. Moore's law, while dwindling, is still in effect.

Buy the Toshiba.
We will wait for Windows to dull your senses. Then we will send in the Linux Ninja!!!

I re-read your update (more closely this time). When I went to Amazon and search for "Dell laptop" there are results. Do these not qualify for you gift certificate or are they not authorized Dell sellers?

Even if you don't want/need to run Mac software, consider a MacBook with Windows installed on it. It's one sweet laptop.

Go with a HP/Compaq. You will get by far the most bang for your buck. I think these beat Dell's price point on the higher end models and are very nice machines. I have a preference for the HP lines over the Compaq but I have friends with both and they are both excellent machines.

Of the choices you mentioned I'd go with Toshiba. I had a high regard for IBM, however, they're Lenovo now and just as Chinese as Acer. We're 100% IBM/Lenovo at work and I currently support about 60 of the newer T60 and Z60 models. I hate them. Mostly it is the ThinkVantage software that causes problems. The things ship w/ like 100 running processes launching at boot before you run a thing.

The Sony Vaio is great if you want your laptop mostly for executive looks and watching DVDs on a plane.

Buy the HP you won't be sorry.

Now for the plug I can't resist. Personally, I just bought a used MacBook Pro off EBay. There is a lot less risk w/ the new intel based machines. Mine dual boots to windows or runs it in a VM. You might have a little cost after the purchase in licensing to run this way, but I could ask for no better setup. Windows is only for things I'm forced to run it for, such as Visual Studio. I love my ... ok, sorry.. buy a HP.

I've always been a PC-guy, but I bought a new MacBook a month ago. I wasn't looking forward to all that Vista stuff, which seemed like a lot of gizmos to me. Also, most of the Windows laptops look like poorly-made toys---the possible exception being thinkpads.

Anyway, I've been pleased. The transition wasn't bad. There are some minor annoyances with the OS X, but you learn the ropes. I've been especially pleased with the physical computer itself which is small, and has a lot of thoughtful features. E.g., the magnetic plug thing.

Screen-viewing angle sucks on the non-pro macbooks, though.

Thinkpad, all the way. They're reliable, they're solidly built, they're fast, IT guys swear by them, and they don't come pre-loaded with all kinds of gunk and crappy trial versions of programs you don't want in the first place.

A little more money, perhaps, but absolutely worth it. You won't look back.

Avoid Sony like the plague. In my experience, their laptops last about a year and then go bye-bye.

I've been very happy with my Toshiba Satellite M45 etc. A bit larger than what you are looking for, however, and Toshiba has had some problems with the batteries. Does anyone know if they are fixed yet?

Having declared my love, I have to admit that at 20 months I started getting the blue screen of death. The laptop came back from 3 weeks in the repair center with a new LCD, logic board, and battery. Then, with one week of warranty left, the keyboard failed. And I swear I didn't marinate it in Diet Coke in spite of what the repair guy thinks. That is just one woman's experience. Even I am not ready to condemn the brand.

I look forward to seeing what you decide. May help me with my next choice if the keyboard cannot be fixed.

Well, after 18 years of using PCs, I just bought a MacBook. The reasoning is here.

So far, I haven't regretted my decision, although I'm still in the honeymoon phase.

Thinkpad all the way, if you are planning to keep if for 3+ years its definitely worth the extra cost. The computer industry is pretty competitive, you really do get what you pay for. I have bought over 10 thinkpads for my research group and whenever I have had to deal with customer service it has been excellent. IBM still provides the customer service and Lenovo was manufacturing think pads long before they took "ownership" of the product line. If you move the laptop regularly, the T series is really nice, if you need to save a little money go for the older T4x series.

I think "feel" in a laptop is very important to the user experience, you might try typing on your friends laptops before you make the big purchase.

PS I assume you want to run XP and not Vista, so cost is more important than performance? Something to think about.

Toshiba Portege M400 or the Fujitsu LifeBook® T4215 Tablet PC.

So far I have been very pleased with my Sony Viao ultraportable (VGN something...it's the previous generation of Glenn Reynold's new laptop). I've used it daily for a year an a half with essentially no problems (well, Sony would do well to drop their proprietary memory card format). Mine has 1.2 gig ram.

It's expensive, but the weight and size (very compact form factor yet with a good reasable screen) is wonderful.

FWIW, my main computer, an HP/Pavilion AMD/Turon laptop is a piece of cr*p. I can't wait for it to fail so I can justify getting a new Toshiba.

Dell

I would try to ensure that you get one with XP and not Vista. It turns out that "fixed security/make love to the movie industry while screwing your customers" is worse than "bad security". I know you don't want low-end, but why? I'm an economist. I run c code, Gauss, Matlab, STATA with enormous datasets. I edit photos on Photoshop. I use the quite competent and free OpenOffice to the max. I watch DVDs, some of which are just ripped VIDEO_TS files. My main computer these days is a Dell (w/ 15" widescreen) laptop that I bought for under 700 new last summer.

Bottom line: Unless you're doing high-end video work or playing Doom all day, it's simply a waste to spend more than a grand on a computer. Clean up all the garbage that opens at runtime, use some of the good, efficient, free software out there (OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Picasa, Winamp, etc.) and you'll be good to go.

You might want to consider getting a Panasonic toughbook. They are a bit pricier than the standard laptop, but they are built to standards that most laptops aren't able to match, and are far better suited to use and abuse than the standard laptop.

Even though you put a Mac on the "probably won't" list, please do reconsider -- especially a MacBook Pro with WinXP running in a Parallels virtual session. That gives you the ability to have your cake and eat it too: all the little touches that make a Mac so much more pleasant to use, with the ability to run Windows software for those specific applications which don't play in the Mac world. I replaced my corporate Windows laptop with a PowerBook in mid-2005, and recently replaced that with a MacBook Pro. Haven't looked back.

If you don't want to go that route, I gotta agree with the folks who rave about their IBM (now Lenovo) ThinkPads. These are great machines -- for Windows boxes.

Amazon has the 3000/N100 (Intel Core2 Duo, 1GB/120GB, 14" screen) for $1200. Probably a good idea to upgrade the memory to 2GB while you're at it; if you don't need it now, you will before long.

Just a thought; You travel a lot, right? So you want something that will last for a few hours away from a wall socket. Two things about this;

1. A lot of laptops can be purchased with an extended battery. It's a bit more expensive, but may be worth it for you. Companies tend to be shy about pushing this option for some reason, so if it's available, you may have to search for it.

2. The bigger the screen, the shorter the battery life. Screens suck power like mad, so if you're looking for long batter life AND a big screen.... it's probably not going to happen.

Regardless of the laptop - if you fly much, get a power adapter for the plane dc socket. I broke down and got one last year and it's allowed me to not worry about charge on cross-country flights. I even charge my iPod in flight from my laptop.

Two Thinkpad stories:
I was using my previous Thinkpad in the front passenger seat of a car (not recommended) when the airbag deployed. The screen was ripped off (and smashed into my face, ouch, 9 stitches), the keyboard was bent and separated from the body of the laptop, and a lot of keys popped off. When I plugged in an external keyboard and monitor, it *still worked*. I used it for a week or so until IT got me a new one.

The new one (a T60) has been nothing but trouble. It doesn't seat well in the docking station, and the display flickers for a few seconds every now and then whether docked or not. And the battery has just been recalled because of a potential safety hazard.

This is all anecdotal, so I don't know if the quality of Thinkpads has declined since the Lenovo purchase or not. But I wouldn't spend my own $$ on one anymore.

Another Thinkpad vote here, but if you just can't swing it, get the thinnest, lightest thing you can afford that still has a tolerable display. Also don't see the benefit in buying expensive (unless it helps fulfil the above). Most of the higher-end hardware is way beyond the needs of someone in your position, and it sucks away battery life. Also, memory is readily upgraded.

And the battery has just been recalled because of a potential safety hazard.

Most of the battery cells responsible for that fiasco were manufactured by Sony. They were used in numerous brands of laptops, because there are only so many OEMs for LiIon battery cells.

Get a MacBook. It runs OSX and Windows. If you buy a Windows box, you will only be able to run Windows. Windows isn't as nice as OSX so it should be kept in the basement when possible.

I know we've debated this before (When you wrote that Salon article), but do consider the Mac carefully. With parallels you get the best of both worlds, or you can just install XP on it with BootCamp and really mess with people's heads.

The biggest issue I have heard is the difference between trackpads and the litle red mid-keyboard pointing device that some PC users can't give up, and give such sensual nicknames.

Thinkpad. My T20 is almost 8 years old. I recently installed a 120 gig hard drive to replace the original 12 gig. I just bought a replacement LCD ribbon cable because the original is starting to get crotchety. (Yes, I'm cheap! I can live with that.) My son has been through 2 Dells, 2 Toshibas and an HP in the same timeframe. Also, I love the eraser (TrackPoint device) and hate touchpads.

I'll echo everyone who said to get a Thinkpad. They're solid, fast, work, and the service is excellent. They're slightly (but only slightly) more expensive, but well worth it just for the solid feel.

It is interesting the fanaticism of people who love Macs (and even Linux for that matter). I myself was forced to use a Mac at work for quite some time and hated it. Windows XP(or Linux, which I have to use now at work) all the way for me - but I guess that's not a popular thing to say ;)

On topic, I use a Compaq Presario with a Turion 64 and 1GB RAM, of course, Amazon doesn't seem to directly sell them...

I'll also echo the thought that you don't need a super-fast laptop for what you are most likely going to use it for, and it is soooo much cheaper to buy one with slightly slower/lower performance.

Ignore K's suggestion to look for "N" wireless. He is referring to IEEE 802.11n wireless standard, which is expected to be finalized sometime in 2008. So looking for it now is pointless. All you will find now is "draft-N" or the older "pre-N" (which is harder to find, but surprisingly, better performing).

Avoid the draft-N wireless. Get a good 802.11g wireless card with MIMO technology.

Amazon seems to be having a sale on HP laptops. There are some pretty reasonable prices. My wife has had one of these for almost 2 years and it has worked great.

Here is one that has a particularly nice set of compromises regarding, price, power and mobility. 2GB of RAM and a dual core processor are perfect for Vista. You could buy this one as-is and use it without having to make any major alterations.

http://www.amazon.com/Pavilion-DV6255US-Entertainment-Processor-SuperMulti/dp/B000M7T7WS/ref=acc_glance_pc_main_0_title/104-5579539-4703127

Don't forget to let us know what you choose.

one thing I forgot to mention, you might consider going to hp.com and getting a 12 cell battery.

Its one of the best accessories you can add to a laptop.

What makes you think your coupons will make the bottom line better than what you can get from Dell.
I looked around for lowest price (including Costco) then called Dell who gave me a better price (by several hundred $'s) and then we added more memory, hard disk, and speeds at that same price. I know from having had a Dell for almost a decade that their customer support is as horrible as everyone else, but have a local support person who's been able to solve any problems I've had, so I expect nothing from Dell in the way of support; I'd never pay for an extended warrenty from anyone. Good luck!

I too recommend a Thinkpad, but a Thinkpad X60s. Weight, battery life, and being a Thinkpad are why I recently chose the it.

With the extended battery, I think it weighs about 3.3 pounds, but the battery life is upwards of 8 hours (depending on use).

I'm quite happy with it.

because guess who you have to buy the parts from--if they will sell them to you?

Actually, with Dell, I've been able to get replacement parts (a replacement keyboard in particular) on Ebay, even though Dell wouldn't sell it to me (or wouldn't sell it to me on its own -- I forget). It was quite cheap, easy to install, and has worked pretty reliably. I don't know if this is the case with other manufacturers (somehow, I suspect it is *not* the case for Sony) but it may not be all that bad.

That said, of the suggestions, I would choose Toshiba over Sony. Without hesitation. I love Sony's consumer electronics, but their computers are overpriced for their performance. Possibly Lenovo over Toshiba, although I have a fairly recent Lenovo for work, and have not been particularly impressed.

I have not used a Compaq or HP for years (5) now, because the Compaqs I used in the past were absolutely horrible. They may have improved somewhat, but my experience with them has been uniformly bad. The same is true of the Macs I have had to use in the past, although I am given to understand that the newer Macs from the past five or six years are fairly reliable. This has not been my impression from my sisters' Macbooks, one of which had to be replaced about two days after unboxing (the warranty covered it, fortunately), but their problems since then have been minor, and they seem reasonably happy with them.

I buy thinkpads exclusively, after having nasty experiences with most of the other brands out there. (Especially with Sony...thankfully I didn't actually OWN that flimsy overpriced piece of crap, but rather merely did hardware support for the guy that did.)

Go with the ThinkPad. You won't regret it.

But if you're absolutely positively not going to buy the ThinkPad...Toshiba sucks rather less than most other non-ThinkPad laptops.

Don't buy Sony. You're paying a lot for flash, and they break when you look at them funny.

Whatever you do, pay attention to the brand of hard drive. In my Thinkpad I've had 2 IBM/Hitachi drives completely crash without warning, a Toshiba that started making moaning sounds and causing XP blue screen errors, and finally a Seagate Momentus drive that is still running quietly without problems after 3 years of frequent use.

As for brands, even though I still use one, I can't recommend Thinkpads, my current machine (an A21p) has lasted for 7 years, but it's been rickety (LCD panel artifacts, buzzing speakers, comically low battery life and a broken hinge despite never having been dropped), for 5 of those years.

I've been shopping for laptops lately too and I'd settled on a Panasonic eLite Y5. It's light at 3.5 pounds, reported to be tough, sports a dual core intel CPU, a nice 14.1" display, integrated DVD burner and up to 1.5 gigs of memmory. The downside is that they're spendy, a standard configuration will run 2500 to 3000 without a lot of add ons.

I like the specs on the Panasonic a lot but I finally realized that I could just build a development/Home Theater PC for my living room and just code from my couch. A windows smart phone works fine for taking notes during meetings when I'm on site. And both together cost less than half the price of a decent laptop.

If it's relevant, my custom designed HP was not so good. The laptop air intake was on the bottom of the laptop, meaning that unless I worked with the side of the laptop off the edge of a counter or somehow elevated off the coutnertop, the thing would eventually fail due to heat. Especially if used in moderately warm room.

I've bought laptops on behalf of other people at work, so while I can't tell you what's good to use, I can tell you what's good to service and deal with tech support. Most laptops have either a restore disk or a drivers disk, and the driver disks have varying ease of use. Some of them have a separate partition on the HDD that contains the restore disk, but those're a pain to deal with, and take up valuable space.

Dell: good laptops, though IMO pricy by comparison, and great support-- Dell techs are well-instructed if not necessarily that handy in and of themselves. Dells usually have a restore partition. Get a big HD.

Compaq: don't buy it. I encounted one that wanted me to produce multiple DVDs to make restore disks. Couldn't find the drivers anywhere, and Compaq support couldn't tell me where to get them. Compaq machines are good, but the support was so bad, we won't buy from them anymore.

Toshiba: Nice. Support website ispretty good, and their sales website is generally quite good-- they nearly always have an offer up for a discount, free shipping, a free battery, a spare charger, etc. While dell keeps at the bleeding edge of tech, Toshiba ships with extra toys and tools you didn't know you need, like fingerprint scanners (more useful than you'd ever believe, even for a casual user).

Sony: Fortunately, Sony doesn't have the width to make proprietary Sony computer connectors, because if they had, they would. Vaios are small, light, and kinda sexy. They last, but the user experience degenerates a bit before they actually die, like driving a Saab-- the car runs forever, but all the plastic parts inside will break. Also, pricy, slightly.

Thinkpad: I have no idea; I don't know if they price themselves out of reach of my fellow employees, or if they have a bad reputation or just an unsexy one. I hear they're easy to fix, and that sounds right-- nobody moves replacement parts like IBM-- I just bought parts for a 20 year old machine the other week, and it was as easy as if it was new.

So I'd go Toshiba, then Dell, then Sony, but I'd research IBM because it might be near the top.

Maybe you should auction your amazon gift certificate and put the results into a Dell?

Thinkpad. My daughter's has survived a semester in Australia. My company uses them.

Beyond battery life, check the feel of the keyboard before you buy. There are some awful ones out there.

Going with a Mac requires a small initial investment in learning a new system, but the payoff over time is much larger. Especially now that having a Mac doesn't require you to give up your Windows applications, there really isn't a significant reason to not get a Mac. The MacBook meets all your requirements, can be bought from Amazon, and is one of the best built machines out there.

If you're going to stick with a Windows machine, the Thinkpads are probably your best bet. I've owned Compaqs, HPs, and Gateways, and all of them have had problems. The Thinkpads have a reputation for reliability and solid design.

Nothing in the PC world comes close to the fit and finish of a Mac, which is why my trusty little MacBook is by far the best laptop I've ever owned (with my old iBook a close second). If you're looking for a small, relatively inexpensive, and flexible machine, the MacBook is simply the best buy out there -- and now that running Windows on a Mac is a perfectly viable option, the barriers to entry are much smaller.

Going with a Mac requires a small initial investment in learning a new system, but the payoff over time is much larger. Especially now that having a Mac doesn't require you to give up your Windows applications, there really isn't a significant reason to not get a Mac. The MacBook meets all your requirements, can be bought from Amazon, and is one of the best built machines out there.

If you're going to stick with a Windows machine, the Thinkpads are probably your best bet. I've owned Compaqs, HPs, and Gateways, and all of them have had problems. The Thinkpads have a reputation for reliability and solid design.

Nothing in the PC world comes close to the fit and finish of a Mac, which is why my trusty little MacBook is by far the best laptop I've ever owned (with my old iBook a close second). If you're looking for a small, relatively inexpensive, and flexible machine, the MacBook is simply the best buy out there -- and now that running Windows on a Mac is a perfectly viable option, the barriers to entry are much smaller.

Unless you Absolutely Need to right-click with the builtin trackpad without having to set anything up (ie, there's software to handle right-click with a two-finger touch on the pad), I'd add my vote to the MacBook Running Windows camp.

They're small and light (ie, comparable to most "traveler" laptops in my examination), powerful, and well-built. Apple will happily sell you an AppleCare package of considerable length, and their support is generally excellent, by all reports.

You don't have to ever run OSX on it if you don't want to.

(I'm assuming you were using "probably not be a Mac" as shorthand for "I don't want to have to deal with OSX to do my work and deal with things that I'm quite happy doing in Windows, thank you", rather than any disaffinity for the brand of hardware.)

The MacBooks are very nice laptops, regardless of what you run on them. They are slightly pricey, but not bad at all compared to other first-tier notebook brands. And they will run Windows, though you may not need to. Finally, while that magnetic power connector isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, it does increase the useful lifespan of your laptop if you're one of those people who plugs and unplugs all the time -- the power connector seems to be a common point of failure on laptops.

The old ThinkPads were superb, well-engineered machines. I can't speak for the current generation, but anecdotal evidence suggests some decline.

Toshiba laptops are quite good, but tend to be a little on the bulky side. If this doesn't bother you and you absolutely must have a purpose-built Windows system, they're a solid choice.

HP laptops are dull as dishwater and will eventually bite you long-term, but if you plan on replacing your laptop on a yearly basis they're just the ticket. I suppose that's why corporations buy them.

The Dells I've dealt with have been solid but aesthetically offensive. Maybe the newer ones are better -- mine just didn't look, feel, or sound well-put-together. But they did work, and the one I had long-term lasted until the drive died. I don't blame Dell for that.

Sony, in my experience, is just the opposite -- overpriced and prettified at the expense of build quality. One was so prone to overheating it couldn't successfully play a DVD without stuttering.

As a final bit of food for thought, my most recent employer provided me with not one, but *two* brand-new laptops, a high-end MacBook Pro and an equally high-end Toshiba Satellite. I'd never used OS X before, but inside of a week the Toshiba was gathering dust. It still is.

I would like to join the (what seems to me to be the) chorus of votes for a ThinkPad. I own a Lenovo T60 and have had no complaints.

Come on Jane, no Linux? At least try the Ubuntu live CD when you get a chance...

Check out 30 days with Linux.

if you have to stick w/ windows stay away from Vista..ask for XP

Unless you Absolutely Need to right-click with the builtin trackpad without having to set anything up

I see no reason why a very useful feature should be sacrificed on the altar of Steve Jobs' aesthetic (non)sense. Show me a laptop without a right-mouse button, and I'll show you a glorified DVD player.

Thinkpad or HP/Compaq. I used to do tech support - including working on the guts of the machines, and they seem to be the best of the lot.

I've personally owned 2 or 3 HP/Compaqs, and have been quite happy with them. IBMs have a good rep. Stay away from Dell. No experience with Sony or Toshiba in particular.

XP versus Vista is really a non-issue, unless you have uncommon hardware. Make sure you have vista drivers available for such things as your aircard/cellphone, and make sure there are 64-bit drivers available if you get a 64-bit machine.

(I've been using Vista for a while now - it's pretty nice)

Anony: As I said, installing a wee piece of software gets you right click by tapping the touchpad.

Not much of a sacrifice, compared to everything else, I find. (In fact, while I don't have a laptop new enough to use it, I suspect strongly that it's more efficient, since the fingers need not move off the pad to click.)

(And of course anyone ever using an external mouse, which I always do on a laptop any time I can, has no such problem. Apple doesn't even sell a one-button mouse anymore, and everyone else's mice work fine, of course.)

Gratuitous remarks about "glorified DVD players", of course, make rather a different point than you intended, I suspect.

The whole "issue" of one-button versus two-button mice is a tempest in a teapot. Though I remember my own bouts of adolescent snobbery, back before the advent of wheel mice, that anyone could get along without a [i]three[/i]-button mouse, fortunately time has softened my attitude. To wit: I just don't care how many buttons your mouse has, and using a keyboard is nearly always faster anyway.

The Macintosh compromise of "one button, but if you hold it down for a moment we'll show you the contextual menu you were looking for" is by no means a perfect substitute for two buttons, but it seems to work just as well once one is used to it. It's actually a feature I've been missing in Windows of late.

Have you looked at the tablets? I've been delighted with my Motion LE1600 (see www.motioncomputing.com). I think it meets all of your criteria except perhaps #2, although I would note that they have been improving their distribution and could be available on Amazon. It's convenient to write on the screen in airport lounges or trains and they have multiple keyboard connections. The portability is superior to traditional laptops I've used. I would be hesitant to buy any PC until it was clear to me how much juice it takes to run Vista, but these are my favorite portables. (PS I have no affiliation with the company. I'm just a happy customer.)

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