no brand opinion ( tough I own an HP zd-8000 ), but go with a 15.4 screen.
I had a dell 14" ( small ) and have now a 17" ( battery dies so fast - lesss than a dvd feature film).
I just got for a friend a Gateway Athlon 3400 , 512, 80 gig, ati, wqi-fi etc ... and paid 600.00 for it
