[Rob Channell]

Expresscard is a smaller version of the PCMCIA card. It will probably replace it in time. The Toshiba laptop I was looking at had both.

http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Pages/area-51_m5550.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51M5550-R3&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT
$1049 with free GeForce 6600 Graphics upgrade
Spend $60 or so at Newegg to get another 512MB RAM and $90 or so on a 100GB hard drive and you'll be set for a while

I opted for an Alienware Intel Core-2 Duo 1.66Ghz laptop instead of the Toshiba. I am upgrading it with 2GB RAM and buying an extra laptop drive. The RAM and hard drive I am buying as a seperate purchase from Newegg for about the same price as an upgrade. The 120GB drive will go into the laptop and the 40GB drive will get removed and stored on a shelf as a backup. The extra RAM will probably get sold on Ebay. I am buying an Expresscard with Firewire interface and hope to do some video capture/overlay.

I think the Intel Core-2 Duo chips are winning the laptop battle. Smaller die sizes and less power mean more runtime on a battery. I like two cores or dual core either one for not having the system response slow down while I am multitasking. I opted for a little more expensive system because my company has a zero interest deal and I tend to keep a laptop for a while. My last one is 120MHz with no USB port or Firewire(yuck!).

If you want small the Dell XPS 12??? is fairly interesting, but you do pay for the smaller size. I went for a 15.4" screen as a compromise. Big enough to see detail and small enough to be less of a burden than a 17" monster.

JMO, of course. I am not an expert, but I did visit the Holiday Inn website.....