Now, I'm not a computer wizard but own a few laptops from Dell, HP, Compaq up to Alienware. My favorite is my Compaq V2000 but it only comes with Intel pentium Mobile. It's really light, dependable, the 12cell batteries really last a long time (5-6 houts). The bright wide screen option is a real deal and only cost me less than $1200.
But as I said, I'm not a computer wizard and don't know if maybe you need pentium 4 for your application. But Pentium M is really my favorite now. It's fast enough and run really cool hence longer battery life.
I'm looking for a pretty basic laptop in the sub $1000 range. It can be new or refurb. I am looking more towards reliability than price.
The purpose for the laptop is I am trying to learn Web development and I own a Mac Desktop which doesn't play well with back end web development. I am a graphic/web designer by trade so I may use the laptop ocassionally for photoshop uses but I will mainly be using dreamweaver on it. Other than that I won't be doing too much heavy duty graphics stuff.
Look forward to hearing from you guys!
Thanks!!!

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