wow some great advice.

still looking looking looking.

getting my tax back soon so will have a little more to 'invest' in.
the lenovo is getting a few double glances

only issue I have is the 'other half' wants me to get another pc as he purchased 2 wide screen monitors a month or so ago and reckons if I get a lappy 'it will go to waste'.

the dilemas continue.

not sure if anyone has mentioned this before - but graysonline have some nice laptops, in particular lenovo (IBM) and HP's which come new with manufacturer warranty. The catch is that they are just excess stock of a superseeded model. I haven't bought one yet but the prices desfinately are worth a look, especially with the manufacturer's warranty. As always buyer beware!

Asus UL30A-A1 - If you're in the market for an affordable thin-and-light, the Asus UL30A-A1 provides great value and a solid Core 2 Duo CULV processor in an attractive package.

Dell Studio XPS 16 - The Studio XPS 16 features premium design with genuine leather accents, anodized aluminum, edge-to-edge display and backlit keyboard, 16" ultrawide 16:9 aspect ratio with 1080p HD support & optional RGB-LED for brighter and more vivid colors, the latest Centrino 2 platform for blazing fast performance, amazing battery life and go anywhere wireless connectivity and premium ATI 512MB graphics delivers incredibly lifelike videos, movies and gaming


Lenovo G550 - The Lenovo G550 is an update to the Value Line G530 with the primary difference being the shift from a 16:10 to a 16:9 screen. Configurations include either Intel Pentium or Core 2 Duo processor and up to 4GB DDR3 installed memory.

Hope this helps