many companies still sell xp laptops, here is a search at tigerdirect for laptops with xp XP Pro Laptops buy.com also has quite a few. just search for new laptops with windows xp and you will find them. Some that come up will be the new small netbooks so if you do not want those you will just have to wade through them to get the full size laptops. be cautious because some places do sell refurbished models but they are always labeled as such. below is the search link from buy.com another option is to go to a company like cyberpowerpc and configure your own pc and have them build it for you with exactly what you want on it, they do offer xp. Welcome to Cyberpowerpc.com Here is a link that might be useful: buy.com

Hi Jane, I am 66 and have used a PC for many years. I attended a short computer class once and worked on a Mac. The biggest frustration I recall is that it responded to a single click and I was used to double clicking. I decided that although it would take time to get used to, I wanted to set up my PC to respond to a single click. Since then, I have set up any new computer to single click. I have a very difficult problem because I DO NOT intuit anything. I have to read instructions and even then, I may not understand. I have to do a lot of searching for very basic things: most recently, "how to use a touch pad" after I bought a 10.1 inch netbook. I sometimes use a cordless mouse because I still hate a touch pad. Returning to my inability to intuit anything and everything that "normal" users do without thinking, the problem is very real, constant, and extremely frustrating. I have to be very motivated to struggle through learning new concepts. Case in point: I use a cell phone only to make and receive calls. I have been unable to figure out how to send or receive text messages, I can't program functions like the clock or the list of people whose numbers I want to call, I can bring up a list of missed calls, but I can't easily call the person back, etc. I can't download different ring tones even though I would dearly love to find Allison Du Bois' ringtone--from the "Medium." I can find this information online but I can't figure out how to get it into my phone and then select the new app for my phone. I am not stupid. I was first a teacher and then a registered nurse and I have two MS degrees, both with high honors. I am simply brain dead in the area of the brain that allows one to intuit while on a computer. I think it is absolutely imperative that your husband sees a patient tech in a Mac store and has a chance to experience the differences between Mac and PC. Good luck! Nancy

Within a couple months of your niece's acquisition of the Mac (assuming OS-X) you'll be considering converting your entire household. It isn't a "plunge"....it's a massage/jacuzzi/etc....with a happy ending. I'm biased. I switched three years ago after decades with PC/windows. Changed my computer-life entirely.....from wasting mega-time maintaing the stupid box and OS to forgetting all that crappola and actually getting things done. Thing just sits here and runs. First box I've owned since 1985 that actually does that -- and nothing else. Yup...I'm very biased.

>>>> "All of the various computer sellers (Apple especially) would like you to think that the value of the system you are purchasing reflects not only the hardware but the pre-installed software as well. It is a fallacy to fall into this trap. You're much better off considering each "ifree and pre-installed" software title a liability in so much as you will have to take time and trouble to get the #&$^� off your system." Bought or started up an OEM/MSWin Pc lately? Boot up a new Dell sometimes and just take a quick look at what comes that you didn't ask for..... Otherwise, having run PC's (Win DOS-XP-SP2/Linux/the Open & Free BSD's) and Macs (MacOS5(?) thru the sons OSX.4) and being a committed (maybe commitable?) Linux user who likes to play with FreeBSD and has a nice new copy of Solaris X86 to play with.............. Well, were someone ask me should they get a MacOS machine or a WinPC or a Linux box...AND ESPECIALLY if the person asking is primarily interested in "consumer/personal" type IT ie: browsing, email, music, photo's, email, schoolwork I would have to say get the Mac....Nothing simpler easier or more "user friendly" As for total system quality and value..... We still have a IIe, a Performa 5200, an original IMac with OS9 and OSX, a red IMac, and a white IMac, all of which still work. All of them. And the son has that G4 PowerBook that I (and the S.o. too) lust over. Though my limited personal experience with APPL tech support is quite limited, I have none but positive exepiences with them, but know others who have a less than stellar opinion of the same....BUT the online help via forums, FAQs and tutorials and etc. that's available to/for MAC users is IMNSHO, second to none, it's at least as good and useful as for Linux. I have a 32 pound i386 Compaq "portable" too, It sill works, but is no longer useful for much more than anchoring a small canoe in a stiil body of water. The Performa5200 (only reason we bought it was because we were getting it almost for free) running OS7.5 is still my very favorite mchine, that 32mb of RAm and that ("newly installed" LOL) 56K modem just don't seem as fast and robust as they used too....... Damn, I must be getting old..... Next I want a Cell Processor based PS3 machine (Anybody wanna sell me one real cheap?) to turn into my own personal Linux based super-computer, unless/until C.P. motherboards and processors start becoming commercially available at a somewhat resonable cost. HAGD..........I headed out to check out the rose bushes and take the dogs off in the woods over an hour ago, but haven't left yet. I am going now though, gotta beat that rain you know.....