Whatever models you're leaning towards, make sure you'll be happy with the keyboard. Try a few out in store before deciding. I personally can't stand keyboards that cram the "\" between the left Shift and the Z, but some people are used to that and can live with it just fine. Check the feel, action and spacing of keys for comfort. It's easy to replace a desktop keyboard you're not happy with. A laptop, not so much. Try out the trackpad too, even if you'll be using a mouse most of the time. A good trackpad makes it much easier to function without the mouse when you have to.

If you're going for an inexpensive model, read up on it beforehand. There are some good value, cheap laptops out there, even Acer and ASUS brands, but there's a lot of crap at the lower price points. Come to think of it, there's some crap at the higher price points too, so read the reviews on your leading contenders in any case.

Dells and Lenovos are more typically the safer bets. HPs & Toshibas are a bit more inconsistent, or have been in the past. We have a couple Acers at home we've been happy with. The older of the two has a slightly flaky CD drive, but the newer one has none (as is typical of most newer models).

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Gilles R. Detillieux              E-mail: <grdetil@scrc.umanitoba.ca>
Spinal Cord Research Centre       WWW:    http://www.scrc.umanitoba.ca/
Dept. of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences,
Univ. of Manitoba  Winnipeg, MB  R3E 0J9  (Canada)