For the past 8 years I have run Sony Vaio notebook computers and will continue to buy them when I need a new one.

I have never had a problem with the Sony laptops and they run really well. Some of the Sonys had battery problems last year but that has been resolved. I currently run Vista with 4 gigs of RAM on my laptop and it runs really fast.

Whatever laptop you buy do not fall for the cheap lowball offers in all the stores. These are not bad computers but they do not have large enough hard drives, not near enough RAM to run Vista - and you will play hell getting a new laptop without Vist on it these days, and they usually will not have the best processor. By the time you increase the RAM and perhaps upgrade the hard drive you will be at a price point where all these should be included. Don't worry about 64 bit processors right now - the software to support it is in bleak supply. One other note, if you are a Microsoft Office user and you run Vista you might as well get the new Office software. The later versions will run on Vista but not well except for Office 2005 or 2003 I think. Also, if you are going to run Vista get the Vista Ultimate version not the basic home version - you won't be sorry.

A lot of laptops are being manufactured to attract the desktop user - all the goodies - blue tooth, cameras - you name it. One other note, if you buy a laptop with a very large screen you will have a very hard time finding a case that fits it without buying a backpack or something like that.

All the stores are offering very good deals right now - so you should be able to find a laptop with a good deal.

My suggestion is simple - buy a laptop in
the 15 inch range with 4 gigs of RAM and as large a hard drive as possible. As I have mentioned - I prefer the Sony Vaio laptops.

I hope this has helped.

Hammer