Your saw might fetch $150.00 in good condition here, I don't know what prices are like in your area. The 450, 270 and 280 are not pro quality saws, they are designed for the occasional user/weekend warrior. What length bar do you want? The MS 260 would be a good choice but is limited to 20" and .325 chain. 3/8 can go on with an Oregon bar but the saw doesn't have the cajones to pull it. What about a Husky 359, a lot lighter than your current one but uses the same 3/8 chain. Good all around saw.

T2450 Processor Speed 2.00GHz I have a very old (12-15 years) Pentium 3 PC 1000Mhz 1GB RAM. No, the performance won't be diminished by the dual boot because the 2 operating systems are installed on separate partitions, so you only boot to the system of your choice. You only have 1 system running at a time. Dual boot is really kind of neat, when you boot up you get the choice of which os to use, use the up-down arrows to select one. Make 1 system your default, so you can boot and walk away and it will automatically load that system. I know they're starting to say 2GB RAM for Vista, but 1GB has been fine for me. I had a cpu & ram meter as a sidebar gadget on Vista and the ram never used over 42% The only problem you may have after the XP install is you might lose the Vista bootloader, so Vista won't boot, but that is easily solved with a small program called VistabootPro that will install the bootloader back on Vista. I had an Acer notebook in my hands the other day, seemed fine to me, even though the lady had about a 100 programs running at startup that weren't necessary. Is that a 17" screen, wow.

We have had the Pergo XP (Extreme Performance) installed in our house for a few years now, and if I had to do it again, I would have used something else. In my opinion, the XP stands for Extremely Poor. The floor wasn't even installed a week, when a plastic cooler was slid across the floor when filling it to go on a trip, and it scratched the floor in multiple spots. Fixed it with their repair pen, but still quite noticeable. Pergo's website claims: "Designed to withstand scratches, scuffs and pet accidents." We also have pets and had a tinkle accident that we did not see until morning. The flooring had soaked it up and swelled and buckled, etc. We were able to fix with lots of paper towel and a stack of books to weigh it down, but still. We live in Montana, so a flooring product that more or less can't get wet seems a little useless. After all, we live where is snows, rains, etc. Additionally, just 2 days ago I dropped a pair of pliers which chipped a chunk out of the floor. Really???? DANG!!!! That was the last straw. What good is a flooring product that cannot get wet, drop things on, slide things across, etc. Hey Pergo - Life Happens. Next time I plan on putting flooring down in a "controlled environment bubble".... it still wouldn't be Pergo. If you plan on wanting to live on and use the place you plan to put this product, I would have to suggest finding something else to use. This is the most "hands on" maintenance flooring I have ever had. Next project is probably going to be rip this s%@$ out and go with something a little more "life friendly"

I am in the middle of installing 1200 sq ft of Quick Step Laminate right now because I am on a slab, wanted to float the floor and have a pair of 60 lb mutts that tear around the house all the time. Currently, in my old house, I have solid oak floors and they scratch it up with their claws everytime the doorbell rings. I can (and have) sanded it up and refinished it and then it just kills me to have them scratch it up again! I debated between engineered hardwood and laminate for this house and opted for the laminate because most engineered hardwood can only be refinished once or not at all. I have the living room, dining room and one hallway heading to the bedrooms laid and it is going down easily (once you get used to how the floor tries to shift when you tap in pieces). It looks great and everyone that has been in has commented on my beautiful wood floors!! The sound when I walk on the floor is not exactly like hardwood (although who knows what hardwood would sound like over a slab) but it doesn't bother me at all. If it holds up under the dogs, I am going to be very pleased I think. I considered XP but couldn't find a color and look (gloss level, wood like embossment) that was exactly what I was looking for but I found it in Quick Step. I bought 5-6 extra boxes and figure if there is a place the dogs wear the floor, I can pull it up and replace it later as I am planning to downsize my dogs next time around!