[BlueSkyJaunte]

Towards the end of the Mac/Windows discussion I mentioned I'd be getting a Dell laptop. No fault of mine; my company's doing an "Employee Purchase Program" which gives me $1000 to spend at Dell. The rule is that I must buy a system, then use the remainder on whatever I want from Dell or spend more $$$ and get a better system.

I chose path #2. I bought an Inspiron 8600 with a big HD, lots of RAM, WSXGA+ LCD, Centrino 1.4 GHz, blah blah blah. $2600 before rebates! $2150 after. Haven't sent in for them yet, because...

I got the thing yesterday and it is A PIECE OF *****!!! The build quality is the worst I've seen of any laptop--ever--and the materials are absolute crap. The case is seemingly built from recycled soda bottles. Or perhaps imitation Tupperware. It feels like it's about to fly apart faster than an over-revved helicopter that was maintained by someone who disdains thread-lok.

Now, as for performance it was pretty damn quick. So's a supercharged Daewoo. I paid for a C32 AMG and got shipped a Daewoo, goddammit!

I've initiated a return and will be buying the cheapest box I can and some peripherals that I don't really need to come in under the $1000 limit. I don't need another desktop computer but I absolutely refuse to buy another Dell laptop.

So help me out here, guys. Especially you Mac people. You know you want me to buy an iBook or something. I've got $1150 to play with. Hell, I'd be willing to go as high as $1300.

Here's what a laptop has to do to be acceptable:

1) Play DiVX avi
2) SVideo out
3) 802.11b wifi networking
4) NOT BE BUILT LIKE A PIECE OF EXCREMENT

Suggestions?