Thank you, fbrdphreak! (And others that replied.) That was all very helpful information. I had in fact been looking at the Toshiba Tecra 2 (customized), and a Gateway M460XL-QS, which has a crapload of decent features for $1,399.00 (P-M 750, 512mb RAM in 1 slot, 80gb 5400rpm drive, DVD writer...