Terry, I have had two Dell Inspiron 1420s with Ubuntu 7.10 pre-installed. I was happy with both machines, but here's what I recommend should you decide to go this route: -Get at least 2 GB of RAM. CPU speed probably isn't important for most users so there's an opportunity to save a lot of money. -Get the 9-cell battery. -Don't get the Blue-ray DVD option. For whatever reason, some of the live CD kernels don't like it. -Throw away the Ubuntu install disk sent with the laptop. Neither disk sent with each of my two laptops worked for me. In each case, I re-installed from downloaded ISOs with no problem. -If you love Gnome, fine. If you like KDE, don't bother to upgrade from Gnome to KDE (Kubuntu) on the Inspiron; both times I ended up with ugly fonts, clunky icons, sort of a mess. Just re-install from your Gutsy ISO and go directly to Kubuntu. The default desktop setup (fonts, icons, screen resolution) looks great. -Get an Nvidia video card and use the free proprietary drivers. It's worth the expense. Get the glossy high-def screen option to take advantage of it. -Don't upgrade network card management with Synaptic or Adept. Your network services will re-set in the middle of downloading and installing packages, leaving you with broken packages and a serious desire to reboot. That's about it. Good luck with your new laptop. JR