Need help finding new notebook

[Kissner]

I was pretty set on the Compaq V2000Z model. Here's the specs on the one i was planning on buying
Operating System- XP Home Edition (I have will but Pro on it later)
Processor- AMD Turion 64 ML-37 2.0 GHZ/1MB Cache
Display- 14.0 WXGA BrightView Widescreen
Graphics Card-ATI Radeon Xpress 200M w/productivity ports
Memory- 256x2=512MB DDR SDRAM (I will upgrade it to 2 Gb later)
Hard Drive- 60 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive- 8x DVD Drive (have an external sony DVD/CD Burner)
Networking- 54g Integ Broadcam 802.11b/g WLAN and Bluetooth
Warranty- 2 Year express repair and accidental damage
For a total price of $974.98

Now that i've heard that the 64 bit really isn't the best buy, i need help finding something that would suit me better. I've heard good things about the M Processors. If anyone could find me a computer with similar specs to this for around the same price i would be very greatful. What brands should i be considering? This computer will be mostly used for homework,internet serfing, music and movies. The specs that I definitely want are 60+gb hard drive, 14-16 inch widescreen display, 2 ram slots (i already have gb ram sticks to install when i receive notebook), 2 year warranty with accidental damage, bluetooth, XP Home Edition (already have copy of pro that will be installed when i receive notebook) and i would like an upgraded graphics card. I do not need a burner, any additional software, extra batteries, XP pro or lots of RAM.

I came to this forum cause i was stumped on what to do with my confusion-hopefully somone can help me clear it up and help me find the right computer for me.

 

[suprasteve]

well as you already stated, there's a lot to consider, I'd suggest going on newegg and searching for all the things tha you've described here. And yes the Pentium M's are good, intel came out with some newer mobile processors recently and those are supposedly good too. The one you are currently looking at doesn't seem to be a deal, not a bad price but you could definitely do better. As far as companies, most companies who can put out a laptop have a fairly nice product, IMO, lenovo (ibm) has the most rugged and well-designed ones in general but I'm sure someone will argue with me there. My laptop has a 15.4 inch screen and I wish it was smaller, it's kinda hard to carry around, so small isn't necessarily a bad thing. The ram you have may not fit in your new laptop though, as there are at least two types of memory still being used in laptops as of now. But there are a ton of options so the best thing to do is search for what you want and narrow it down from there