I just bought an Inspiron 5150 myself. Dell prices them "as low as" $X but once you get some add-on stuff that is really quite necessary (to me anyway), you end up at $X + 400, at least. I originally had the second battery, the internal wireless NIC and something else in there and I was at $2X in no time. To borrow from another current thread,
fuck that. I'll get to find out how long I can tolerate XP Home too; I am not paying for XP Professional.
If you're looking to stand out in a crowd and put a serious computer in your lap,
check this out. We just started re-selling these; there's a small trend among CAD designers, software architects, other professionals to demand 'mobility' as a job perk. They're good systems, albeit comparatively pricey.
Bought my sis an Mac notebook last year and she loves that thing. Have to admit, it's light, seems powerful, and I found a way bring up a real command line with no help, which made it a winner for me.
[ November 24, 2003: Message edited by: Michael Ernest ]