If your a Gamer then I suggest Alienware none better unless you go total custom. If your a graphic artist or just like things that march to a different drum Mac is great. If you want something thats long lasting and works with nearly everything but not ultra fast, sleek or sexy then a Dell Lattitude is a good buy. Sony Viao are light and shiny but can be a bit problematic

Laptops are not the greatest for gaming because all that graphics make the processor overheat. My boyfriend burnt out two laptops within months of one another playing large games with excellent graphics - the processor starts to smoke and dies, damaging the mother board of the computer as it burns out.

I would recommend a laptop with an external disc-drive. They are lighter for toting, and, you can leave the drive home in a safe place if you won't beneeding it while you are out. Plus, the heat the disc-drive generates won't affect the computer.

Also, a lot depends on what operating system you will be getting (installing your own? buying a package deal?). And, how much you want to spend on the computer.

Dell's may come with support, but, they put adapters on all of the hardware so you will have to get replacement parts through them (which can be high priced) while buying from a place such as Circuit City offers no support, but, the hardware can be bought, in the event that it fritzes, at most computer stores for a regular or discounted price.

I would say something with an Intel Centrino Duo processor (is able to burn hot for longer than most) and, if you are not getting a MAC, something designed for XP that is also capable of running VISTA (when all the bugs are worked out and service packs released). Many games that play on XP will not run well on Vista until patches are released.

Also, if you want internet anywhere without having to buy a wifi-card and paying up to $75.00 a month for it, make sure the laptop has Firewire (built in internet wifi).

(BTW - still have the Starfox game. Sin mentions she is coming up in August. I plan on having a DN get together with anyone who can get up to Portland in August. It would save on shipping costs...let me know.)

Just a note here: FireWire is NOT Wifi. FireWire is a competing product to USB that was originated by Apple in the Mac series. Just make sure it has Built in WIFI if you want the wireless internet capability.

I love my laptop ... and I've had many. I HAVE to have a big keyboard so I went with the HP.

This is the newer model but it has the full keyboard too

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Usage&v1=Entertainment&series_name=dv9500t_series

Gwindylyn liked mine so much she got one too!