Laptop buying - need display for best readability

Hi, I'm looking for a laptop primarily for text, and having a hard time getting a feel for the new display aspect ratios. My 4-yr old Gateway notebook is 15" screen, standard 4:3 and that's perfect for me with sensitive eyes. I'm not trying to find a standard screen anymore, so I'm trying to find out what widescreens would be comparable in terms of text size and readability.

I saw a 14" Dell Inspiron widescreen that hurt my eyes. Not sure if it was because it was 14" not 15" or because the higher resolution made the text smaller, but the text was definitely too small and increasing the size in Firefox just looked bad. Not sure if a 15" widescreen would make enough of a difference in size of text?

I'm not able to get to stores to look around, so I'm trying to figure this out and buy something online.

It also looks like I don't have a choice with the glossy screens. Not sure whether my old Gateway is glossy or matte, but it does have some reflection although the contrast is not that high so text doesn't look glarey. (Now I'm nostalgic for my old Win 98 desktop with monitor that had contrast control!)

So my main question is about display. Is the 15.4" 16:10 display best for me - am I right to disqualify all the 15.6" 16:9 displays?

Other specs are not that critical - I just need to stay under about $750, and ideally more like $550. Better than average speakers would be nice.

Processor:
I see some machines in my price range with Core 2 Duo, so I thought I could go for that instead of slower processors. It seems that AMD Turion is fairly comparable? For my use, I'm sure I'm not going to notice slight differences, so I'm considering either one. I've seen some Sony Vaios with Intel Dual Core in this price range, and it seems that I could get a faster processor for the same price with a Gateway or maybe Toshiba or HP Pavilion.

OS:
From what I've read, 32-bit Vista Home Premium seems better for me than 64-bit at this point. I have a lot of USB devices - microphone, webcam, mouse, external keyboard, printer, external hard drives, and don't want to deal with possible incompatibilities. What about free upgrade to Windows 7? Actually my plan is to try to hold out until next year and get a Win 7 machine, but I need to do the research now in case my machine gives out before then.

HD:
I have external HD's so HD size is not a major factor.

RAM:
I just want enough RAM to run the OS well and be able to keep 3 or 4 programs open including Skype, Firefox, Word. I do a little bit of Photoshopping and audio recording with Audacity, not all at the same time.

I've already gotten the impression that Lenovo support is not great - that's why I like Gateway, have always gotten good support. But I don't see online reviews for Gateway laptops, and I really like to see reviews. Dell seems to all be 16:9 display.

A few I'm considering so far:

Gateway M-1631u or M-6887u
Sony Vaio VGN series
HP Pavilion dv5
Toshiba L505-S6951

What's the best way to keep up with good deals online?

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

-Karen