Thanks for all your advice. You have all been quite helpful and informative. Considering price and the fact that my school will not let me teach my dv class with macs.... I bought a dell laptop (ouch). The thing is though I'm going to use the money I saved plus whatever I make this summer teaching summer school and I'm going to buy an ibook when it goes G4, whenever that is. I think that may solve both problems in the long run. It hurt though shelling out money for an inferior product because of the limited vision of my employer. But what can you do.. Wish me luck, I'll keep you posted. It's the first pc I ever bought (yikes) but I remain a mac person, I really do. Thanks again...