First of all, every time i get looking at laptops im overwhelmed by the number of processors, different names, models etc. seems much more diverse than desktop processors. Anyway, i want a very solid cpu that will give me a solid 3 years before its a dinosaur, and hard drive space is not that important, and i am willing to manually install ram upgrades if it is cheaper to do so. Can anyone tell me what some of the best processors i can hope for would be when looking in this price range? core duo sounds solid, but what model? and what puts up similar bang for buck? i would prefere also to not pay for an OS as i have just purchased a retail copy of vista