Hi Elaine,

Having spent a great deal of time in the media centers of motorsports venues over the last seven years, I've see just about everything that's out there.

As to what brand I favor, Toshiba, and it isn't even close. Their machines a just plain durable and reliable. The news organization that I work for has experience with just about every brand through the variety that has been used by us individual reporters. This year, they bought three identical Toshiba laptops to use for our Ethernet networking setup at the races.

As to what to look for regarding features. Given that you will be using your new machine primarily for internet access and email, get one that has a built-in modem and built-in 10/100 LAN Ethernet. The reason for the modem is obvious, and the reason for the networking capability is so you will be setup for either connecting to another computer network and be setup to connect to a DSL internet connection if that opportunity arises. I emphasize built-in, because add-ons using PCMCIA cards are never cheap, they always cost a lot more than any add-on card that you can find for internal installation on a desktop computer.

Also, go for a machine that has an active-matrix screen. Dual scan screens are okay, but they don't provide the sharp resolution that the active-matrix screen does, and they are considerably brighter in situations where there is a lot of light from other sources in the environment around you. The difference in cost between the two screens on similar machines is about $400, but it is definitely worth it.

Hope this helps!

Bob (using my 2 1/2 year-old Toshiba 2595CDT laptop)