Ditto! Laptop is where it's at! We have two, and can't imagine ever going back to a desktop. Laptops are waaay more versatile... esp. when paired with a wifi network. Some things I routinely do with my laptop that one could never do with a desktop include: I bring it in the kitchen when I cook. I can take my laptop out to the hammock with me in the summer. When we visit my parents, we bring our laptops with us and we can answer work emails without using their computer, which would be awkward. Most laptops have DVD players... Ever wish you could entertain LF on a long car ride, or ever wish you could watch a movie somewhere other than in your living room? Laptops take up less room, and it's easier to tidy up your desk when someone is coming over... we put ours in the cabinet for parties and the desk becomes a buffet... this would be a pain in the butt to do if we had a bulky desktop. Laptop keyboards are easy to use, but if you want a big one, you can always plug a standard keyboard in through a USB port. There are some pro-desktop reasons, but I suggest they all have "yeah-buts" attached: You can get a bigger screen with a desktop (yeah, but who needs that big of a screen anyway). Many desktops have more storage capacity (yeah, but you could always use a portable hard drive if you ever managed to fill up a laptop). Many desktops can be used with more peripherals because they have more cable ports (yeah, but who buys a laptop without first ensuring it has enough ports to meet their present and probably future needs anyway). I've never had a laptop overheat, but one of my coworkers did have a desktop overheat because it was bulky and she crammed it in too narrow a space for the fan to work properly. (She's sort of an idiot, so I don't know if this counts.) I can't imagine a reason in the world that I would ever buy a desktop computer again...

I love my Acer Aspire One netbook, I purchased a longer life battery for it which is around 10 hrs so it last plenty long. Mine has xp sp3 home on it and I am very happy with that. It has the atom processor. I know that AMD has recently put out a netbook processor and some netbooks now have that processor, I am a big AMD fan. I also have the pandigital novel mentioned in another thread and love it too, I can surf the web, do email, and read my books plus play the games that come on it. I would not want to have to do a lot of typing with it since the virtual keyboard area is pretty small. but for the price it is a nice little tablet. Acer Pushes AMD Into Netbook Space MSI Ships 2 AMD Netbooks With Radeon HD3200 Aspire One 521 Is Acer's First AMD Netbook  Live Photos Inside I love my netbook but if I had had the option of an AMD chip I definitely would have gone for it, I just like AMD.

Hi, Olympiceagle. Thanks for the Consumer Reports summary. I often use Consumer Reports, but tend to find their electronic reviews are not as fully-informed as some the the industry-specific review sources. I did check cnet - they like the thinkpad x61 - but the customer reviews there weren't as good. I also checked some other review sites (PC Mag, Notebook Review, etc). Most of them spoke well of the thinkpads, although they varied as to whether they placed them at the top or not. Customer reviews varied a lot depending on the site - middling on some, and very positive on others. That's why I thought I'd check here - for some more personal feedback. I'd love the Thinkpad x300 - but not for $3000. I'm not about to switch to Apple - and I heard that Sony's aren't as reliable. Funny they don't even mention Toshiba. Thanks. Lynn.

you do not want a tablet for that type of use. Stick with a laptop, for travel of course the 14-15 inch will be lighter weight, check the weights on any of them because they can vary greatly. I have only got warranties from the manufacturer. Once you have one you will want to declutter it, using the pc decrapifier is a good tool to help you with that. I never activate the "free" antivirus on them either I immediately fully remove it and install either AVAST free or Microsoft Security Essentials free. We can help you with all of that when you get it just come on back and ask. Here are a couple of links you can save. PC Decrapifier. Using AppRemover to remove the AV that is on it. a good place to get the things you need free with out any extras added on. Here is a link that might be useful: ninite