That is the one thing I have noticed since scouring the net and asking everyone and anyone in the know their opinions on who makes the most well put together laptop. It seems that many folks are extreemely loyal to one particular product or brandname, but one brandname doesn't seem to be conclusive over the other. The Imac sure has its very loyal following, as well as Dell and Toshiba and, another brand rapidly picking up steem is HP, especially their DV6000 and DV9000 lines. I am beginning to conclude that at this point, figure out exactly how much of a laptop you need and can afford, paying particular attention to Size of Hard Drive, How much Memory (RAM), and third, how much graphics card, and lastly and most important, the CPU. I have concluded that the duel core processor is important, as it is essentially two processors stapped together, and the OS uses one for certain functions and the other for certain functions, and most importantly, only one is being used and powered when both are not needed, saving battery power and overall electric consumption. Another rule of thumb, to save money, get the base core duo (1.60GHz, I believe), and skip the upgrade on the CPU and get 2G's of RAM, as your CPU runs out of cache space for storage, it will draw from Ram, and adding RAM is much cheaper than adding a high end CPU. Bottom line, I'm waiting for some hot sales. Another thing to think about is size, and yeah, folks, size does matter... Most of the 17" models that I've tried out in the stores just seem too damn big and heavy, especially if your going to use the thing as a LAP top... it's just too damn big for my lap, and I have a big lap at that... the 12" is just too small, especialy for viewing movies, etc. That's the one thing that turned me off from the DELL XPS 1200... hot looking little machine... just too small. 14-15" seems just right for my taste. It seems to me that all these machines (Toshiba, Dell, HP and many others) are all beginning to become clones of one another. Seems they are are made in China nowadays, and no one has yet to convince me overwhelmingly that one is better than the other...

What I meant was in answer to the questions about what antivirus programs to get Owbist had given a list of good known programs, anytime you are going to get a program you do not know of always come here and ask so we can make sure you are getting a good legit program. There are many many of these rogue programs out there now and we try to keep anyone from falling for their tricks. They are serious malware that act like they are legit programs. You likely can not get the money back since you used paypal, I am not real familiar with their terms, but you are lucky you did not give them your actual credit card info so that part is good. The worst part is now you have a bad situation on your computer. My best suggestion is for you to follow my directions to go to the other forum and ask for help telling them you got Antivirus elite. If you need help posting there I can do that for you, I am there also. Just let me know if you want me to start the post there for you. They will lead you step by step using some specialized programs to get your pc cleaned up.

The biggest constraint is How much can you spend? Your GPU is as almost as important as your CPU. That and RAM (even HP has a sign up on their computer buying configuration page: WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND 2GB RAM FOR VISTA) plus COOLING and of course a tower that can handle power. For everyday use and enjoying multi-media along with playing a few games...you would need an entry level gaming computer. That's what Vista and all the new applications would require. My cousin was just over we were watching video reviews of "Oblivion", and he asked me how come I can watch Oblivion on my computer but not play it? Because a video game isn't a movie. You are controlling your character and how its effects the surroundings. He said I bet that makes that makes you mad...it sure does. Micro Express was a choice from PC World, I believe. I liked what I saw. The cables are bundled nicely for good air flow within the case. There was a choice of getting a better case that would handle more electrical power. For a budget entry, the graphic cards available didn't seem bad at all. One of my all time favorite computer companies is ABS. They started being the little engine that could and blew Dell and even Falcon Northwest away with their gaming models, eight or nine years ago. Then they got famous and made about 60 different computers and fell flat on their face. They are climbing back and blew $10,000.00 (yes that is ten thousand dollars) Falcon Northwest away with there $4,000.00 X9. Now I'm expecting anyone to blow $4,000.00 away on a computer. But the point is that Tom's Hardware thought is was as good, and even better than the ten thousand dollar Falcon. ABS makes gaming computers and workstations...nothing else. They really got themselves in order. I lean towards gaming computers, not only because my only goal in middle aged life is now to play Oblivion on a computer, but because they are built to deal with usage that graphics demand. Vista and Aero are all about graphics. That's how people should envision the new OS...a big game, one that puts just as much heat and stress on a computer as Oblivion would. Oblivion (while being almost two years old itself) is still the ultimate test of any worthy computer. Dell has many contenders in this category, I think PC Magazine gave Dell 2nd or 3rd behind Falcon Northwest, but this complete Dell system rang in at over 7,000.00. Better costs, and costs quite a bit more. This is another problem with the bigger PC commpanies, they all make some very good computers, but they all make some stinkers too. PC World Review of Micro Express (the case can be upgraded upon configuration, I don't think the monitor is included as the review states): http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127980-page,1-c,desktoppcs/article.html ABS M5 (entry level) compare page: http://www.abs.com/app/m5v_compare.asp I configured the Elite at 1,335.00 and that was for the tower only. That was with premium 2GB RAM and Mirosoft Works...and I think a slightly better processor and GPU. Its going to be very expensive once you are out of the value group, especially with Vista. These computers come with great cooling options and top of the line RAM options. It costs. These are probably more affordable than the Dells in the same category. For monitors, I think Samsung has some great deals on their 19 inch widescreens, but their 1280 X 1024 aren't too shabby either. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SyncMaster-941BW-Monitor-Black/dp/B000JKERJG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2368742-1836666?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1174535967&sr=1-1 I you are curious as to what all this Oblivion talk is about: http://elderscrolls.com/art/obliv_pc_screens_01.htm Click the thumbs for a view of some incredible detail of this 3D world where the game is amaziongly interactive, raising the graphic bar to a whole new level. marf

You might want to try Kenis Lovin--I considered having him build cabinets (painted inset shaker style) for my kitchen remodel, and visited a local home where he had built and installed similar cabinets, which were very nice. In the end I went with Crown Point instead, but not because I had any issues with the quality of his cabinets. I don't know if he does QSO or not. (http://www.kenisloven.com/) Or, if you aren't completely sold on a local cabinet maker, you might want to get a quote from Crown Point. They have a gorgeous line of Craftsman style cabinets, and I found that the price they gave me was in line with quotes from local custom cabinet makers, both for my kitchen cabinets and some bathroom cabinetry I am having them work on right now. Not inexpensive, but not as bad as you might think. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Crown Point cabinets