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...

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.

sugar- You can use the Internet away from home in two ways: You can go someplace, open up the settings on your tablet or netbook, etc., and see if you have free wi-fi available where you are using it. For instance, many restaurants, healthcare providers, airports, all Starbucks, all McDonalds, many small businesses, most libraries, etc., have free wi-fi, and any such electronic device should be able to connect to it (presuming the device works properly). If you get a tablet with optional cell phone technology built in, and also pay for a cell phone carrier data plan, you would be able to connect to the Internet anywhere there is a cell phone signal from your carrier. I have 2 iPads and an Android tablet, but none of them has the built-in capability to receive data (Internet access) from a cell phone carrier. I simply use them to connect to the Internet using my home wi-fi wherever I am in the house or out in my yard, and I take one along when I travel because I can usually find free wi-fi somewhere. I didn't want to add an extra hundred dollars or so to the price of my tablet for added, built-in hardware so I could connect to a cell phone data plan, and I did not want to additionally pay for that monthly data plan as it can get expensive and is sometimes limited in terms of how much info/data you're allowed to access each month by the carrier. If I'm traveling and I absolutely can't find a free wi-fi connection, I connect to the Internet with my smartphone. So, to be clear, if you are going to opt for a tablet, you need to decide whether you want a model with wi-fi capability only (like mine), or are willing to pay more for the same tablet so it has the built-in capability to connect to the Internet through a cell phone carrier and pay monthly for a data plan. Is that clear, or do you need more explanation?

There are few software products that need more power than a good laptop, either Windows or Apple, require. That's a LAPTOP, not a TABLET. People do confuse the two and they are very different things. Heavy duty photo editing and CAD usually do require a desktop. Also, some business proprietary software may as well. Many colleges offer free Microsoft Word. Windows is already installed on most PC computers, laptop or desktop. It's Word that is free - free for as long as the student is enrolled. By that time (4-5 years), they will probably be buying a new computer/software anyway. My DGS's college-to-be does this. maifleir, I strongly advise your NIECE to look on the U of Seattle's website, for computer requirements/recommendations. It will be there, I promise. And the niece better start learning how to find such info or college is going to be a big challenge! No more "mom" doing things for her! Also, look at the prices on their Bookstore website. At Cornell, the laptop that I will most likely be buying my DGS, is $200 less than it would be on Apple's website. As the time for students arriving draws closer, they may have some "package offers" - free or heavily discounted printer with computer deals - they did when DD arrived there 27 years ago! Unfortunately, they were far more expensive than what the money her grandparents had given her, would buy, so we did not take up that offer. We're going to wait until a week or so before he goes to college to buy and he can pick it up in the bookstore when he gets there.