3 letters: IBM

Of the two, go with Dell. I've had Dell, Toshiba and Alienware laptops (among others), and have had motherboard issues with all but the Dell, which is still kickin'!

I vote for the Dell.

I'm with you on this, but many people don't need it.

IBM is no longer in the laptop business. Now under the name of Lenovo.

That doesn't really matter. Lenovo manufactured the pc's and laptops even when ibm owned the buisness. The Thinkpad brand will most likely be associated with the IBM for months/years to come.

I'd vote for the Dell. I have one for work and its pretty decent.

Acer
 

The specs on the Acer are much better than the Dell you are looking at.

Dell used to be good but has had a lot of laptop issues recently.

No questions that IBM laptops are the best but you pay more for them.

If you want a pc this week you could go to comp usa and pick it up.

:iagree:
How much you looking to spend?

Don't know what you have in mind when you say cheap, but we just bought a gateway laptop from Costco yesterday for $969.

AMD Turion 64 1.8GHz
15.4" Widescreen Ultrabright WXGA TFT
1GB memory
80 GB HD
DVD ± RW
4-in-1 memory card reader
Wireless LAN
10/100 built-in
XP Professional