Shopping Help

[etherial]

Thoughts on buying a new computer. What I need:

• a laptop model
• a full adult-sized keyboard
• a non-Vista operating system requiring one click or less to install
• the ability to run multiple web browsers at once (as well as a game or two)
• cheap (free) anti-virus protection
• DVD drive

I've only bought one computer before. That was easy: Go to apple.com, fill out the information for the educator's discount, buy a top-of-the-line model with all the upgrades. Unfortunately, I have not the budget for a top-of-the-line anything. So, any suggestions on sellers, manufacturers, and models?

Edit: I really do mean non-Vista. XP is a version of Windows I'd be willing to use. 7 seems to have all the usability of XP with all the pretty of Vista, but that's just my first impression. *nix is fine, and the one click is just a metaphor, but I remember the days when it took months to *nix working properly on a PC, and I want a guarantee that it'll be fully functional in half an hour.

Comments

[shogunhb.livejournal.com]

Dual core, at least 3 Gb of ram.
Not sure what your budget is, but Nu's laptop was bought at Best Buy after comparison shopping on New Egg and finding a comparable system for a better price at an actual physical store. Hers is an Asus with windows 7, roughly $1000. Toph also has an Asus.

Nu's previous laptop was Toshiba, bought for like $600 at Walmart and worked great for many years.

[shogunhb.livejournal.com]

Oh, and stick with 15.6" or larger if you want an "adult sized" laptop.
Tiger Direct is also a decent online store:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6272349&CatId=4938