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!

Yeah, gotta have 15.4 display. Mine is not that heavy. My wife travels a lot for work and she uses a 15.4 size laptop. She's never complained it was to much to carry around.

There is one major item of note with a laptop. It WILL break. If you carry it around, it will break sooner than later. The key here is the warranty. The only reason I stick with Dell is because I am lucky enough to be offered the employee purchase warranty plan. I have used it twice on two different laptops that have paid for the warranty. Everything from hard drives, motherboards, and video screens have been replaced. I always seem to need the warranty right at the 2.5 yr point. I am not that hard on a laptop either but I do carry it around on trips alot.

As far as displays go, the Toshiba Qosmio and the Sony have the best displays in their top of the line models. Dell follows third with their truelife display. Also, you need to choose between a glossy or a matte display. Most people either love the glossy or hate the glossy: there is no inbetween. I myself love the glossy display.

Other than display, you probably do not need a top of the line CPU or graphics card. You do need to get as much ram and hard drive space as you can afford. I think 2 GB of RAM is now the recommended amount.

For operating systems, if you have Windows XP installed, you can install Vista with it. When you go to install Vista, it will ask if you want to keep your XP operating system. You will say yes and then Vista will install. After that, everytime you start your computer, it will ask if you want to start in XP or in Vista. The two operating systems are totally seperate and do not talk to each other in the least. One last note on operating systems: you cannot install XP after Vista is installed (unless you are an expert and know what you are doing at a deep computer level.)

Like I said, it comes down to warranty for me. With Dell, I can call them and have an onsite repair person the next day with parts in hand. With most others, you must pack up your laptop and ship it which endangers it more as well as you being without a computer for weeks on end.

Feel free to PM me with other questions.