Hi all,

I am in the mood for a new laptop.

One that, among other things, has a 14" XGA screen and a DVD. A Pentium II 333MHz, 64MB RAM, 6.4 GB HDD, 56K modem, the standard stuff, of course. And have good battery life, be light, thin and capable of being dropped a few times without damage (<g>). And be able to push a video projector. Not much, eh.

It seems that Sony has brought out a new series of laptops. One of them has the above specs, on paper. The All In One F180. It has only been available for a few weeks, it got into a serious back-order condition at $2499 (a price that seems to have no competition, even from third-tier manufacturers), and so they dropped the price to $2099 ($200 a mfrs rebate).

A) Does anyone have any inside stuff, rumors, or actual knowledge about this laptop or about Sony as a laptop manufacturer.

B) Could anyone, strongly, recommend the best make and model for me to buy that measures up to my needs. That is not $1500 more than the Sony.

Thanks.

David