Chris-

You're quite welcome!

Coming from a tech support background, it's standard operating procedure in my family to wait a year or two after a new operating system hits the market to see what happens, before you buy. Vista is looking bad: reference this CNET article regarding Dell:

http://news.com.com/Dell+brings+back+XP+on+home+systems/2100-1046_3-6177619.html

Dell is offering Windows XP again on a limited number of systems.

I'm not one to worry about bad karma due to a computer's power supply since I do not leave it running 24/7. I am one to be more concerned about getting an energy efficient monitor and making sure that I have a system that works well for what I need it.

You can get a decent laptop with XP on it still, my advice on any pc purchase is to look at the system specs for the newest operating system (in this case, Vista) and make sure that your pc's hardware specifications are above and beyond what it calls for.

That rule of thumb regarding operating systems vs. hardware capacity has served us well here at home. It has enabled me to take a box that I bought 4 years ago and upgrade it to a system which can survive another software upgrade and that will last another ten years if i'm lucky. This will enable me to continue researching the more interesting aspects of geology. :-)

Mary