I picked up an ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-P last month, works great, runs Windows 7 flawlessly.

I wish I'd picked up an AMD-powered one, though, as the Athlon Neo's supposed to be better than the Atom, and having ATi integrated graphics as opposed to Intel would be a bonus as well. But either way, it does what I want it to, so I'm happy.

dont get a net book! they are SOO slow! u can get a way better specd laptop for $450 USD

i like toshiba.. huge battery life.

for high resolution u may try vaio.

and netboots can't run vista, so stick to xp or go ubuntu if you want a more advance os, that doens't require much effect for it animations.

I've been looking into some of the smaller laptops (e.g. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147987 - though for this one specifically I hate the extra dvd drive they are making me buy), but for what I looked into weight really gets too high (actual dimensions aren't that much of a problem since I'm not going to put it in my pocket, and I'll always be carrying some A4 sized stuff anyway).

But most laptops to me aren't really all that portable, more like movable, and totally not convenient to drag around all the time unless it's the main thing you're carrying instead of being just another gadget.

on Vista, I totally hate it. Windows 7 will be out by the time I buy whatever though, and if that's not great on the netbook I'm going to stick with XP. Ubuntu, not sure about that, I'd like to use that instead but it depends on whether I have to use some Windows-only software for classes and whether Wine will support those.

i found wine very capable.

i am using msdn office with wine, expert system builder for my knowledge based system class, and  borland C for numerical methods.