now this (not ever ownining a cell phone, how they cost so much etc), especially from a developer would fall in the 1st April stories category in most of the world. While the US has been a bit behind the curve on cell phones, can it be this bad?

Look at the thinkpad t60 widescreen (15.4"), I love this machine. also available with 7200 rpm drives etc if performance is an issue. very good battery life. definitely sold & stable.

They are not exactly the same type of machines. pay particular attention to screen size & weight requirements you may have, one is a 12 inch small screen ( among the smallest) and the other 15.4 (among the biggest bar the 17 inch monsters). The choice should come down to how mobility, practicality for work etc. small machines tend to be used by ppl who move a lot, exceutives who only use it for mail & excel etc. Bigger wide-screens are generally prefereed by developers who need to have things like visual studio open. Core2 is better than core, but not such a big issue, the 6400 will probably sport the core2 soon.

there are no tigers in Africa;P

Omar has also posted some of the best articles ever on CP. I think his articles/code are way cooler than the site. Salil

& both are dwarfed by the AN 225. check this out http://home.hccnet.nl/y.a.cathalina/Personal/747-v-380.jpg[^]

That was below the belt !:)

Have a look the panasonic FZ-20. Or the FZ-5 if you want a smaller but slightly less capable one. The have excellent fast lenses (f2.8) and 12x zoom and optical image stabilization. To get similar capability from SLR's will cost many thousands.

Membership of the commonwealth in most contries including India, means very little. Almost like belonging to some social club, spending time debating what inefective measures to take against Mugabe etc. In Australia, the Queen is the head of state, her picture is on the currency, she appoints a governor general etc. The Queen's birthday is a holiday in parts of Australia (interestingly, it is not a holiday in England :) ) Some Australians are worried about the prospect of Charles becoming their head of state :laugh:. Salil

The Dells are very good. For a thin & light, I would recommend the inspiron 510m (I have one)or the equivalent Lattitude. From the punishment you seem to have given your Compaq, maybe you should took at the IBM thinkpads, they are physically more robust than the dells, are very light & have incredible battery life. The thinkpad T42 is very good ( the only machine I would prefer to my Dell!). Cheers Salil

looks like the Sharp Chess article that was posted recently has disappeared. I have noticed something similar in the past too. I sit possible to find out why they have been deleted.

I just wonder about the title of Sam Waltons autobigraphy, he should have maybe called it "Made in China"