See any good deals lately? What are the minimum requirements for a decent laptop? What do you like/dislike about yours?

Obviously I am considering one and just starting to look a little bit. I want something I can carry and use for email, internet, iTunes, pictures, a few work related programs, and maybe watch a DVD now and then.

Do you have any need for a serial port?

I don't even know what that is.

Carry = 12/13" or a 14.1" MAX size. Keep away from the BA, bulky, heavy 15.4".

You can get a semi-decent one for $500. Plenty for email, internet, pictures, etc.

Doesn't matter what laptop you buy. Even if you buy the Ferrari of laptops, if you buy it with Vista, its like filling the gas tank with sugar-water.

By next summer, Windows 7 will be replacing Vista, but there is no guarantee it will be any better. In fact, I have heard that the same design-team that did the Office 2007 interface is doing the same for Windows 7. If that happens, you might wish you still had Vista.

Vista can work just fine. Key word: Can.

Well here's the deal...I need Windows XP for my company's software to run. I thought I could buy any laptop and install XP on it but I'm being told not to do that. I guess my choices have narrowed significantly to ordering from Dell or somewhere else that still will ship me a laptop with XP. I might wait. I know it's possible to have a computer run two operating systems but the experts/kids at Best Buy and Circuit City have confirmed that trying to put XP on a Vista laptop will screw everything up.

Well Jeff: If it gives you any confidence (which I doubt it will) but I have an Acer laptop (I actually won it) that I run Vista and XP successfully on. It's definitely possible. The problem would be if you could not get the drivers you need for the particular system (audio, video, chipset, etc) that are XP compatible.

Unless Dell still has some already-built laptops sitting on the shelves with XP installed, I don't think you can get one from them anymore either. I haven't looked, but I thought they said they were cutting it off as of 6/1 or thereabouts (Dell, not MS).

If you can find an XP machine, that's what I'd do. If you get a Vista machine, you certainly can put XP on it also, if you choose or need to.

Legitimate short-term Dell deals pop-up here every so often.

http://www.dealcatcher.com/

and

http://www.dealcatcher.com/forums/

Also cruise the usual suspects like Tigerdirect.com and Buy.com if you can work around the XP problem.

I wasn't happy about getting Visa Premium on a HP Pavillion DV6700. But I'm happy to say I've had this laptop for about 4 months and Vista has been fine. A few minor issues hear and there with some of the carry over software I use, but everything works fine. I easily set up my peer to peer network that has two other XP PCs and a network color laser printer and everything works. (well for now)

I'm running an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83GHZ, 3GB Ram, 256mb Nvidia video card, 320GB hard drive, media card reader etc. Runs plenty fast, decent battery life. I Paid around $800.

Over the past 8 years we've had 4 HP laptops (wife has had two for work) and they've all been pretty good. The only issues being displays. My older HP laptop had a display die at 21/2 years and my wife had a display fail on hers a few years back. Many in my family have Dells and haven't had any issues.

I don't agree with the wave-off from 15.4" screens. The weight difference is lost in all of the other stuff that gets put in the bag, including power cords, ethernet cables, mouse, pad, security cable, etc, not to mention bag choice as well. I have used both extensively and I see no difference in the ease of carry IMHO. The larger screen does make a difference for me when actually using it, though.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up an HP laptop (15.4") for about $550 with Vista Home Premium running an AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 at 2.0GHz, 200G HD, 3G SDRAM, 3.5 hour battery, integrated webcam/mic, nVidia GeForce 7150M graphics, media card reader, DVD Read/Write drive, entertainment remote control, etc.

Although I was prepared to be disappointed, Vista seems to be working fine...for now.

Totally disagree. I want a display that DISPLAYS something.

BULKY? HEAVY? 15.4" display is only ~6 lbs fergoshsakes. Man Up!

If you are willing to pony up $1000, you can get a iBook that will come equipped to do everything you want. And it has no problem with XP.

Yeah, if you want heavy, buy an old Inspiron 8200, like I have!