I have been a Dell fan for many years. I was going to buy a laptop from them but someone I know told me to purchase an HP instead. What do you all have? Also, which program should I get, XP or Vista?

We have both a HP and a sony, both work well.

Nothing is wrong with a Dell PC. BEFORE you buy, make sure that all the programs you use i.e. the MLS, any virtual tours, etc. are compatible with Vista. I am staying with XP for awhile until everything works with Vista!

Honestly, I would stick with XP. A lot of people are actually downgrading from Vista to XP because the additional security features in Vista are pretty irritating to most people. Personally, I bought a Dell Laptop (Inspiron 9300) a little over two years ago and aside from one of my RAM sticks that was faulty, everything works great.

I had to send back a brand new dell because it had vista on it. I have a library of software that won't work on vista and i refuse to buy/install upgrades for all of my software.

I have always been a diehard Dell fan. I now have three Dell desktops and two Dell laptops in my family. Sadly, I can see the quality dropping with each of my recent purchases. The desktop I bought in June has less than 40 hours computing time (bought for assistant who then quit) and it has had three service calls for the same issue. (Faulty motherboard power supply -- sort of a basic necessity!!!) Recently my Dell notebook has started being temperamental. When it finally gives up the ghost -- or I do my year-end buy stuff rather than pay Uncle Sam -- I'll be replacing it with a Toshiba.

I have had a couple of Dell notebooks and a couple of Sony's. When trouble did arise I found Dell's service to be better than Sony's.

I currently am typing on a Sony with Vista - and I find Vista very annoying. Regarding the compatability issues, with Vista you can choose to run old programs as if they were running in XP and that does allow them to work.

My Vista experience has accelerated my move away from Microsoft and towards Linux - using Ubuntu. Much more enjoyable, safe, and never crashes (I had to reboot Vista 3 times yesterday). It is also free and can be configured to run Windows programs although most Linux programs are just as good if not better (and free).

I have Ubuntu installed as a dual boot with XP on another notebook and as a stand-alone on a desktop.

It is a bit geeky to install but I believe Dell sells notebooks with Ubuntu already installed - apparently Michael Dell himself uses Ubuntu - not Vista.

As the founder of Linux told Bill Gates - "software is like sex - it is better when it is free!"

Unfortunately I am told some real estate specific software only work with Windows

Toshiba is a great laptop maker. My old man's company uses them exclusively, and for good reason. Dell makes great laptops as well, but they tack on more $$ for software and technical support you may not actually need.

Don't purchase dell or hp. Both are crap.
Buy a Toshiba. = )