looking for a laptop

[tomato]

And Sony's historically cost more.

People will tell you that DELL's get serviced *all the time* but you also have to take into consideration how much share of the market DELL has and how many others don't get serviced.

I still have my 'old" Latidude from DELL. Works great for all purposes, even watched a movie online last night on it, but it's slow for some things (pictures, etc.) I paid too much for it at the time because I wanted to have XP Pro, and the MS suite Pro, the most comprehensive warranty available for the longest possible time, etc., so now I feel I have to keep it as long as possible, but if I had to do it over again, I'd buy something like a gaming laptop and plan on keeping it only a couple of years and use my already existing software, this time saving money on licenses and warranty.

Whatever you do, be sure to "test-drive" your computer. Go to Costco or BestBuy or an Office supplies retailer and put your fingers on the keyboard, etc., get a good feel for it, make sure you're OK with how much it weighs, etc. Then go online and compare prices.

Hope that helps.