In the "for what it's worth" department, last september I decided to replace my Compaq P3@700 laptop so I went looking. I decided I would get a Toshiba with a P4@3.02 gig cpu speed and a 16" screen. I got it home and very quickly decided it was NOT a first class machine because the keybed was springy (it would bounce up and down while I typed on it) and the power brick (located in the middle of the power cord) got REALLY hot. I took it back 5 days later and got a Sony VAIO FRV27 which has a P4@2.66 gig (and interestingly enough it is faster at doing things than the Toshiba) and also has a 1X DVD -RW burner (and 16X CD burner all in one). I got a gig of ram and really like this laptop. I know Terry said he has one and next time will get a Dell, but I will probably get another Sony VAIO but that is at least another 3 years away (actually I won't replace this one until it no longer does what I need to do, regardless of how long that is). BTW, I got it from Circuit City as a close out because Sony had just introduced it's succesor, the FRV28 (the only difference is a speed of 2.8 gig instead of 2.66); I paid $1370 for it.

Tom

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Bigger is not always better