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Graduation gift. Have not kept up with these types of computers but otherwise we are quite computer savy in both hardware and software. Perhaps 5 or 600 dollars or a little more maximum. I see some overlap in these categories price wise and tend to want to go for an ultraportable laptop for that reason. He's going into Engineering but will serve his mission after one year of college. Have more kids coming up so we will see constant use no matter what.

Perhaps the only decision is how much we are willing to sacrifice for portability (14 inch screen vs. 10 or 11 inch screen). We've always been fans of Dell after seeing everyone else around us have problems with components going out in other machines (we're always fixing for them). In my day, it was an HP calculator. Recommendations?

I have a 9-inch ASUS that hasn't had any problems. Packed it around Europe last summer.

But to be honest, I haven't even touched it since getting my iPad 2 a couple of months ago.

krose wrote:I have a 9-inch ASUS that hasn't had any problems.

Nobody likes a show off...

If you are going down the ASUS route, consider the screen resolution, not just the size. Those netbooks tend to have crappy resolution, and can make browsing, etc. difficult. Have a look at one of the less expensive Lenovo laptops - still compact, but fully functional. I say this as one who has both.