sharmaly

unfortunately, other than price, the weight criteria is the aspect that is most important and not flexible. I won't purchase anything over 4 lbs. I suppose I could deal with an external optical drive though.

My pricepoint is going to be the problem I think. I'm a graduate student and I just looked at the deals through school and I can get a good deal on a Lenovo x60 for $1075, but at this point I can't justify spending $1,000 on a laptop when I don't really need to have one (I just really want one so that I can study someplace other than at school or at home). I have a feeling I won't find a great deal on an ultraportable notebook, but if you can find something or some great BF deal comes up that would be a awesome.

I'm looking for a good deal on a lightweight (preferable < 4 lbs) laptop. I'll use it mostly for word processing, internet, etc.. A 7" screen is too small though. The keyboard should be comfortable for typing for long periods. I don't want Windows Vista because some of the software I have (Endnote, Dragon Naturally Speaking) is not compatible with Vista. I have an extra licensed copy of Windows XP. If the computer comes with Vista can I just change it back to XP myself? Also I would like it to have an internal CD/DVD read/writer and at least 1MB RAM. Most of the deals I see out there are for laptops that weigh around 6 pounds. A tablet would be okay too, if it is not too expensive. Most of the ones I see are >$850 and I was hoping to find something closer to $500. Is that realistic? If anyone sees a deal that meets my criteria please let me know.