This is a new lightweight 4 pound laptop with a 12.1" display, that is 1.25" thick, the battery lasts 2.5+ hours with the usual great IBM keyboard. There is an internal DVD drive and a built-in touchpad that makes the unit great for Road Warriors.

When considering buying a laptop, the first thing to do is to determine what your needs are: word processing, e-mail, browsing web pages, moving it around (size and battery life will matter), gaming (a very fast CPU, graphics chip and lots of RAM), on-line shopping, a database application (fast CPU, big hard drive), personal finance, photos (big hard drive), music (big Hard Drive).

Once you have figured out what you need decide how much you can afford to spend. Then check out IBM (Lenovo), Dell and Toshiba or HP. IBM and Toshiba make the best laptops and Dell spends the most on advertising, so has the best name, but perhaps the worst customer service reputation.

So, the question of new vs. used … depends upon your budget, battery needs and how much you will be using the unit. If you only have $300 to spend the only choice is refurbished. If you want a brand new battery then you will rarely find them in used laptops. As a matter of fact the battery might not even work. If you use the laptop a lot then seriously consider upping the budget and get new, as over 2-3 years the cost will be less.

So, once you have shopped around and narrowed it down to two choices then search google for and see who has the best deal. But remember the best price may not much matter if they have poor customers service, should you have a problem.

When considering buying a laptop, the first thing to do is to determine what your needs are: What do you want to use the laptop for? word processing, e-mail, browsing web pages, moving it around (size and battery life will matter), gaming (a very fast CPU, graphics chip and lots of RAM), on-line shopping, a database application (fast CPU, big hard drive), personal finance, photos (big hard drive), music (big Hard Drive).

Once you have figured out what you need decide how much you can afford to spend. Then check out IBM (Lenovo), Dell and Toshiba or HP. IBM and Toshiba make the best laptops and Dell spends the most on advertising, so has the best name, but perhaps the worst customer service reputation.

So, the question of new vs. used … depends upon your budget, battery needs and how much you will be using the unit. If you only have $300 to spend the only choice is refurbished. If you want a brand new battery then you will rarely find them in used laptops. As a matter of fact the battery might not even work. If you use the laptop a lot then seriously consider upping the budget and get new, as over 2-3 years the cost will be less.

So, once you have shopped around and narrowed it down to two choices then search google for and see who has the best deal. But remember the best price may not much matter if they have poor customers service, should you have a problem.

The Dell XPS M1710 includes a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duto T2600 processor, 2GB RAM, 100GB HD, 17" Display and XP Media Center Edition 2005 all for almost $4000. The nVidia GForce 7900 with 512MB RAM makes it a great machine for gamers. At almost nine pounds, however I suspect it will mostly be sitting in one place rather than being dragged around. Too bad there isn't a TV tuner, so if you are considering this unit you might also consider the Toshiba Osmio, my personal favorite.