You might consider a laptop as your replacement machine, Rick. The state of the art has progressed to where there's not much reason to go with a big-box desktop unless you want to load up the empty slots with unusual peripherals.

I had to replace my COMPAQ laptop when it began intermittently crashing, and went with one of the new model Toshiba laptops with the Intel Centrino chip. After a month of use, I can say I'm very happy with it. About a pound lighter than the Compaq and the low-power required by the Centrino chip means I get 3-4 hours of battery life with the NI-MH included. I can also actually use it on my lap for hours without having to put a pillow under it to prevent burns [g].

WI-FI (802.11b) is built in and works great! With all the hot-spots being installed around the country, you will shortly be able to get on line from many public places. Greg may even get us a hotspot at the Club Convention hotel one of these years (hint, hint).

Very good display... only 14 inch but that makes the package a little smaller. What's nice about using this as a desktop replacement is it has built-in hardware for a second monitor. You can connect your 27" monster to it and have a big display just like a desktop, or you can use it as a second display and have a desktop that spans the two! Software for this is built into Windows XP, at least the Professional edition that comes installed on this model.

The dealer that sold this one (CompUSA) also threw in a Cannon color printer free. Price of the model M20-S257 is about $1200. I brought the memory up to 512K for about $80.