HP, Toshiba, and Sony all usually have good reputations when it comes to laptops. That one could work nicely.

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High Overlord of Really Bad Mornings

sorry. no help whatsoevah! I'm a MACy myself. *hugs Powerbook*

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~All the world's a stage. You just missed rehersal~

" A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, If Photoshop acts like a jerk, then so will I!"

*I'M NOT SHORT ! ! ! ! !*

"Datte Bayo, Bitch!*

On that range:

Go for the Turion over the Sempron; it's more optimized for living in a laptop and being cool and power-efficient. Also note it has more cache, so it will perform better for the same GHz.

802.11a is not hugely popular; 802.11g is. So the b/g wireless option is probably just as good for most people as the a-b-g one.

LightScribe media is expensive. If you want/need a DVD burner, get one, but lightscribe isn't worth a premium.

The screen option is personal taste; if possible look at the two styles in a shop before deciding.

The graphics options are not suited for gaming, and may consume system memory. Get at least 512M; 1024 may be even better.

How I'd build it:
Basic configuration plus:

Turion ML-32
1Gb memory (two sticks, unless you'd think you might want to go to 2Gb later)
60G hard disc (this is definitely a taste thing)
DVD burner but no Lightscribe (caveat: At that price, it's almost cheaper to just take the standard CD drive and buy a USB 2.0 external DVD burner; the external burner may also be faster because laptop optical drives tend to be slow)
b/g wireless card (taste thing: Do you think you'll need wired Ethernet, a modem, or 802.11a? If so, go with the choice which covers it, they're the same price)
Bigger battery.

843.61 before rebate, 793.61 after.

It seems they charge a stiff premium to upgrade memory; it might be cheaper to buy a 256M system and then snap in a 1Gb SO-DIMM.

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Jark is a symbol. The community is a value. Values are more important than symbols.

Looks really good for use as a school computer. Compaqs are quality machines.