Hello, I bought my first laptop today the Compaq AMd turion 64 CPU with 1GB of RAM, and I decided to take it back. I was never aware of how difficult it was to type on a laptop keyboard. I have been using a regular keyboard for over 10 years and I can 90 WPM, but on the laptop keyboard since all of the keys felt the same and I had to type at an awkard angle it was a little difficult. I am sure I could get used to it, but it was still a negative. Plus the battery life is so low, and using that pad for the mouse really sucks. Plus the laptop is really slow since I am spoiled with my home PC which uses AMD 4800 X2 CPU and 2GB RAM with Geforce 7900 Graphics card.

The main decision was that I really only need a computer to access my sites on the internet, and since there is an internet connection in just about every city now (kinkos, library, etc.) they have computers that I can use to check on my sites anyway instead of hauling around a $1000+ laptop.

So I decided to take it back, and if anything I could use a small organizer with a pen pad (I used to have one of those back in 1999) and just jot down notes and stuff.

Might want to try a laptop with a intel core 2 duo in it might give you better results.

Jim R

Laptops have a whole lot of compromises - you get a lot less for your buck than you do for a desktop with similar features. If you don't truly need portability, I would never buy one.

You can get around the keyboard feel/layout by using an external keyboard that you like, but then it's not as portable, even if you get an external keyboard meant to be carried around with a laptop. Most laptops these days have a single PS/2 port that can be used for either a PS/2 mouse or a PS/2 keyboard - if you need to use both at the same time, simple PS/2 Y cords (1 male, 2 female) will let you do that.
It takes a while to get used to the touchpad - if you still don't like it after giving it a good trial, you can get compact USB or PS/2 mice locally, or an excellent, thin, USB or PS/2 touchpad mouse made by Cirque or similar (available mostly only on the web).
The main battery life isn't a big problem for most people because most of the time they are plugged into an AC adapter anyway. If it is a problem you can get main batteries of a higher capacity but the laptop has to already have the ability to accept one (many don't), or you can get slim USB connected external battery packs to supplement the main one, but of course that's more to carry around.