Shopping for a laptop in 5 easy steps.

#1- Do you have any special needs? If yes, ignore this post. Let your needs do the shopping for you.

#2- What's wrong with a $1300 MacBook?

#3- Could you get away with only having Office, AIM, iTunes, and Firefox on your computer? If so consider a netbook. Asus Eee PC 1000HE Install a 2GB ram chip if you can.

#4- Desire really good battery life? HP Pavilion dv5-1235dx +6 hours max, C-net tested it to be well over 4 hrs in straight video playback. Normally people should cut in half whatever the manufactorer/retailer says (even Apple's claims), but this guy does 2/3rds what's claimed under stress, which is good.

#5- Toshiba Satellite A305-S6916. Power of a MacBook at 2/3 the price. Also available well under MSRP.