Yeah, I considered Dell, saw a lot of good deals on them lately. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the desktop Dell I bought my parents last year. Anyone know how Dell's laptops compare to HP and Compaq (basically the same price range) in terms of build quality and/or reliability? I don't care about name branding within those three (two) manufacturers, I consider them in the same league.

The next step up would be either Sony or Toshiba, I guess, but that's also typically a step up in price. I've seen cheaper VAIO's lately (in the $1000 range) but Roger's comment about after-sales support backs up many similar accounts I've read, so I'll probably stay away from them. If I go with Toshiba, I'll probably have to trade off some features/performance to get near that $1000 mark. I've seen lower-end Toshibas but read real bad things about them.

Loren, thanks for the Mac info... Problem is I read the same stuff on the Mac Rumors site a few months ago, I'm starting to lose patience. Assuming they really are coming sooner rather than later, and I can muster enough patience to wait, any guess as to what the current 15" Powerbooks (with Superdrive) will go for (with educational discount) when the new ones come out? Are we talking $1800, $1600, less? I know PC prices go south very quickly when newer models come out, but the economics of the Mac market seem very different.