I may need an inexpensive (not a Mac) but effective laptop in the near future. Recommendations?

Also, I look forward to whatever copycats may follow this thread.

It's crazy light, the battery lasts for ages, and it's almost in the price range of those shitty little netbooks, but not so bare-bones. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101180&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Notebooks-_-Gateway-_-34101180 The internal wi-fi picks up weak signals nicely, the screen is good and bright, the keyboard is sturdy. Everything on it works nicely.

I can't tell you about longevity, since I've only had it for a short time, but for the price if it only lasts a year or two (which, come to think of it, is what happened with my last two laptops at twice the price :grr: ) I can't see complaining.

Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad Thinkpad

Stay away from the "SL" series (no Thinklight! sacrilege!)

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad

Or get an "SL" series and live without the Thinklight. There was something else about the "SL" series that was supposed to be very un-Thinkpad but I can't remember what.

EDIT ADD: Found it @ the ThinkPad Wiki - "ATTENTION! The SL Series-notebooks have IdeaPad firmware, they are not ThinkPads as far as Operating System support (i.e. drivers) are concerned."

link: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:SL_Series

I just dumped a 2.5 year old Gateway laptop. It was a piece of junk. I moved up to iMac Notebook. I really like it.

Mine is the 17" screen with the numeric keypad. It is a little heavy and the battery doesn't last as long as the 15" screens. My wife has a special edition with the double-size battery pack and we can watch 2 full-length movies on one charge!