MacBook Pro + VMWare Fusion.

Dude, that's not enough description to give good advice. How big, how fast, what EXACTLY BE SPECIFIC does it have to do? Do you need an optical drive, built-in card reader, built-in bluetooth, battery size, screen-size, portablilty, weight, thickness, webcam???? Those are all significant modern features. CPU Speed and RAM are the two other ones.

Have you thought about the Operating System? Vista was shit when it came out, I've bought 2 computers since it was available and stayed with XP. I haven't used Windows7 yet, but most say it's vastly superior to Vista... kinda like Super-XP, which gets my vote.

Is this going to be a mostly on-the-go machine you use for internet access and basic processing of documents... or is it going to need to do video-editing and 3D gaming? Or will it be a home-machine you use 99% of the time as a desktop except when you go on vacation and then it never comes out of your briefcase?

If all it has to do is run Office, surf the web, and store your music... then you have 2 basic options...
1st: Buy the cheapest Dell you can that has the features you want.
2nd: Get a refurbished "model of the day" from Geeks/Ecost/TigerDirect/NewEgg/TechForLess/etc...

How about this one... if you're an "average" guy, and this computer doesn't do everything you need it to, then you're beyond my help.
Acer Aspire Timeline AS5810T-8929 Refurbished Notebook PC - Intel Core 2 Solo ULV SU3500 1.40GHz, 4GB DDR3, 320GB HDD, DVDRW, 15.6" LED, Vista Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect.com

I've been working at a computer techinical support line for the last 8 months. I typically take 120-150 calls a week on computer problems from all different models, so I've become quite familiar with them. That being said, I will never buy anything other than a HP/Compaq and I make fun of anyone I see with an Acer/Gateway/Emachines.

^What samnavy said. We need more specific details as to what you'll be using it for.

For instance, I've had a Sager NP8690 since Thanksgiving last year. It's got a core i7 processor and a GTX 280M video card. It will shred everything you throw at it and doesn't even get warm in your lap. The battery lasts longer than 10 minutes, but not more than an hour (only a 3 cell). This fits your specifications, but I highly doubt it's what you need :)

toshiba has been solid for me but gateway has been fail sauce.

im a nerd when it comes to this, but I am a desktop builder... but my laptop that I am more than happy with is the HP Dv7 Bronze series. I have the 20" widescreen, and pretty cheap to the great stuff that comes with these laptops

I bought a gateway FX before i deployed, it has been an amazing laptop, no issues whatsoever, great chipsets and graphics. I prefer to stay away from the huge companies - dell, hp, etc. I like the gateway so much, that it was my number one consideration when I bought my mummy a laptop this last christmas.

Last laptop I had was an alienware i bought in 2002. Saved every penny i earned for 3 months to buy that thing. At 2.8 ghz, it will still fire right up today and run office apps like a badass! The dated video card in it is the reason I bought the Gateway.

I prefer to build my own desktops

did you buy the fujitsu yet? if not, you're losing valuable time making love to it.


btw, memory and hard drives can always be upgraded later. integrated nonsense cannot.

Nobody is listening to how right I am.

Dell Latitude are pretty good. Utilitarian keyboard and appearance but they're durable and cheap. I've had them for work for about 8 years now. My current d830 has been bashed around in my unpadded backpack for a year and is just fine. Dell platinum support (paid for by my company) is also great. Next day onsite service FTW.

yeah the guy at work who bought a dell had the onsite service guy here 3 times in two weeks. within the first month of ownership. shortly after he sent the thing back in for more repairs.

FTW.

Sam - I left it vague mostly I don't know what I need. Size doesn't much matter, neither does screen size, battery size, etc. I don't need built-in cameras or crazy drives.

Basically I need it to get on the interwebs, save pictures and videos (so, hard disc space is a priority), and stream to my TV (somehow). It also needs to be a grand or under, which rules out y8s' Fujitsu, the MacBook, and all Falcons Northwest.

So that leaves getting another Dell, a slightly nicer refurb'd laptop, or the Toshiba my computer geek friend recommends.

ahaha. I know thats true for me.

go to sellout.woot.com and Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM) right now. one lenovo and one hp are up for sale.