1st Note book purchase

There are several interesting options for you but you have to be clear on what you want:

1) Have you gone to best buy, Costco.com, etc to check out the dedicated DVD players (not a computer) which have their own LCD screens ? You can get a very nice one for $500 or less in many cases but these only play DVD's on their own built in LCD and are much thinner and lighter than any notebook computer. Examples of quality brands: Toshiba, Panasonic, etc in varying LCD sizes/Costs

2) HP just came out with a brand new model at hpshopping : dv1000 -- it allows you to play DVD's without booting up the computer (or CD's) with controls on the front panel. Also, it has a remote PC card that goes into the PC card slot when not in use. It has a 14" LCD and is a Pentium M (Centrino) notebook 1.2" thick and 5.3 pounds. This may be ideal for you uses except for one thing -- GAMES -- it has integrated graphics (not a dedicated video card) so it will play simple games and do web-surfing, etc but it will not play Doom 3 or any other game requiring a built in dedicated video card chip. This notebook also should fit well between the car seats assuming you mount it on something properly.

3) A full-fledged multimedia computer like the Compaq X1000 or HPZT3000 (I have one of these) has an option for 64mb dedicated graphics (128mb is better but most of those are at or close to $2000), a 15.4" widescreen LCD, etc. These can very easily be purchased for under $1500 after discounts ($100 custom order rebate) but they are wider and heavier than the above -- 6.5 pounds.

Give me more of an idea of what you want. If you really want one device to use in the car and use for wi-fi (web surfing, Microsoft office) then the DV1000 is a decent choice (or similar new Compaq model is somewhat less but doesn't have the built in remote control and some front panel controls).

If you really want a notebook that can play games you would be better off buying a 7" Toshiba Dedicated DVD player (meaning DVD player only -- no computer) with LCD (very small and light) and then get a notebook somewhat larger and with a dedicated video card for games.

Let me know which way you are leaning.

The critical thing is how much space do you have in the area you want to mount the DVD player for the car ? I assume you would mount it between the front seats and have it viewable from the rear seats but what type of vehicle is this ? Most of the built in solutions have the LCD come down from the ceiling but of course that is all customized and expensive.

If in fact you can mount a dedicated DVD player or small and light notebook computer between the front seats (on a board or something flat) then you must find out how much space you actually have to do this upfront (especially width).

Have you considered a refurb? I'm typing on my p266 166$ Compaq Armada 1598dmt. Oh, I added the 8 buck wifi card...
It boots and I see google.com in just over 2 minutes.
The unit even came in a HP box!

There are some DVD units at compgeeks.com

About "games". That pushes the discussion into what games?

Bob

Does the $100 mail-in rebate apply to the DV1000? I could not find it listed on the HP rebate form.

Also, the brightview is $100 extra. Was it previously standard? Is it worth it?

I'm a real novice, so how much will reducing the processor to 1.5Ghz, the SDRAM to 256 and the hard drive to 40GB effect the proiduct for my uses? I'm looking to stay in the $1000 budget. Thanks for your help.