You'll find that a brand-new Dell laptop can now be purchased directly from the for under $600 and it will do everything you need and then some. Lots of options, many of which the sales folks would love to collect commissions on, but most of which you don't really need. I purchased an Inspiron 1150 with an Intel P4- 2.6 GHz processor, 256 megs of SDRAM, 20 gig hard drive 24X CD-RW/DVD, lots of goodies, with a 14.1-inch XGA display for $699. A few months after I purchased it, I got an advertisement for the same computer from Dell for $539. Give them a call at 800-456-3355 and get them to cut a deal for you.

And, as Fran said, you can always shop for a good used laptop, and there are lots of them available. Nearly every major city in the United States has a computer show taking place on a monthly basis. Check them out--that's where I got my older laptop for $400 and it works like a charm. Just a 600 MHz prcessor, with 128 megs of ram and 10 gig hard drive, but it gets the job done and it does it well. It has been running for two years and never given me a single problem.

I'm sure you'll get lots of other responses from other forum members on this subject, just as I did two years ago. I'm glad I listened to Fran, Donny and Uncle Dave--folks who use them every day.

Good luck,

Gary
_________________________
PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)