Forced to buy a new laptop :(

[jmadero]

Basically, my graphics card keeps dying, not in the financial position to do so, but need a laptop for work. My current laptop fits all of my needs but of course I'm having a problem finding all of the stuff that it has in another one at a price I can afford (looking at financing, probably around $40 a month). Looking at several brands but leaning towards Dell simply because I trust them, but Toshiba, Sony, Gateway and HP are all possibilities. What my current system has which I like:

1. Bluetooth enabled (saw that Toshiba system typically aren't)
2. Nvidia card (I'll manage with a built in if I know that it'll work, as for gaming....I guess I'll have to stop for the most part...still prefer a 128 non built in if possible - noticed that Toshiba often has ATI radeon cards, do these not work well with Linux, I've looked a bit and it seems like they struggle).
3. S-Video out ....this is a big one because I digitized my media and it's nice to be able to plug my laptop into my tv every once in awhile....seeing that it's definitely not standard and I might have to not get it
4. DVI -- I'm seeing HDMI for a lot but my HD Monitor unfortunately has EVERY plug other than HDMI, so, it's VGA or DVI ....preferably DVI since I have a 20 foot extension cable going from my monitor to my laptop...


Those are really the biggies, I'd definitely prefer a 64 bit capable chip since at some point I think 64 bit will be as stable as 32 (some would argue that it already is, I am yet to see proof as I've run a 64 bit OS a few times and always am disappointed).

What I currently have is a Inspiron 9400, 256 Nvidia 7900 Go, 100 gig HD, 2 gigs of RAM, Intel Duo Core 2 (or however you say it), 17" monitor (I think I'm leaning towards wanting a 15 though).

Price range, $1100 max (plus I need somewhere that will do financing, I can put about $250 down but I'd need 12-18 months to pay off the rest).

So, any suggestions? I know I'll have to let a few things go.

I saw a few possibilities, Best Buy has a Toshiba that looked good, has s-video, decent price, but the drawbacks...ATI Radeon video card, so if I know that will work in Linux no problem I'll probably pick it up but if not then I have to keep looking.

The Dell Studio 16 looks decent, then there is no S-Video, the refurbs would probably be an on board video, and it has a tacky leather strip thing (I'm a pretty big animal rights person so leather on my laptop just seems weird).

So, suggestions would be great. Thanks all

[rokytnji]

Might be worth a look.

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