Hello all,
If this is the wrong place for this post, please tell me, I haven't been here long.

I am going to be buying a new laptop for going to university and I have a few things in mind. I was wondering if someone could help suggest a model/brand that would meet the needs I'm looking for.

My first concern is size and portability. I'm looking for a small screen, a durable build, and a long battery life. These are the most important things.

My second concern is compatability. This is why I'm posting this request on the forums. I want a laptop that I can make into a dual boot machine with a portable distribution of linux as well as XP.

In addition to this of course, come hard drive, CPU and memory. I'd like at least a 60Gb HDD, preferrable 1024Mb memory and a decent CPU for processing audio mixing and other tasks. This is not going to be for gaming, but I need some speed here.

Thanks again and if this is in the wrong place, please notify me.

Dell now has a fairly nice new laptop with an AMD 64-bit processor;
http://www.dell.com/content/products...day=2006-11-16

By selecting the 9-cell battery options (primary and secondary) should have enough battery life.