thoughts on older laptops?

look at ibmz, you can't get simpler than that.

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

Have you actually used one of those apple things before? They may look pretty but oh man do they suck! I had to support ibooks, powerbook g3s, and powerbook g4s at work. They all are terrible machines. The g4 I used was a little more usable with linux on it, at least until it completely died a few weeks after we got it.
If you are looking at one of those clear cased clamshell ibooks I must advise you not to go for it. The cdrom drives in those die like crazy and they are by far the slowest machines I have ever delt with. My old 486 runnin win95 was way faster than an ibook.
I think just about any pc laptop you can find in that price range will suit you much better regardless of manufacturer. A good place to look for laptops in that price range is ebay.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

used them, liked them, but only after fighting years worth of windows-born habits. basically was forced to use both types of machines as im living w/ friends who have them. and their stability is apparent in stark contrast to windows (xp: i still see bad crashes). nothing on these two (one powerbook, one ibook) has failed. and im not going to argue about the power of these machines, but ive found their multitasking abilities are far superior. that said, i still would like a windows laptop. however, i wont touch dell nowadays, same goes for compaq and hp, so no, those wouldn't suit me better. but thanx for addressing the post.

any certain models you might recommend? was looking at the sony pcg-505 (or something) series, very interested because they're so compact. any ibm equivalent? thanx for the suggestion!

The first one that comes to mind is the IBM Thinkpad X series. The new ones will set you back about $1700 at least but there are older ones on ebay for around $800 or less.
Here is an X23 buy it now for only $825:
<A HREF="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=..." target="_new">http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=...;/A>
It has some decent specs and lots of accessories.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

here is a thinkpad 390 buy it now for $169:
<A HREF="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=..." target="_new">http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=...;/A>
It is a little bulkier than that sony but it has better specs and you don't need to lug around an external cdrom. however neither the sony or the thinkpad 390 have a dvd drive.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

if you can get sony for cheap, why bother looking somewhere else, i just like ibmz, they are like tanks.

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

with airbags, on the newer onez.

<font color=red><pre>_____________________________________
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

thanks for those suggestions