dell are a good laptop and can still be purchased with xp home or pro as the preloaded os.

microsoft have just stopped supporting 98 so i think it will be some time before they stop supporting xp in terms of critical updates etc...

most businesses i know that lease dell machines are running xp pro and have the machines leased for 3 years so microsoft will support for at least that long

i am looking for a laptop for tilac as well - she watches IPtv all the bloody time wasting my bandwidth and stopping me downloading porn from the torrent sites!

looked at some machines both dell and nec (packard bell in uk) all coming with viasta basic or home premium

it should be noted that vista recommends 2gb ram but will work with 1 gb by turning off memory hungry apps. it also will not do well on any machine that does not have at least 128mb graphics and a 256mb card / onboard solution is recommended

also older software does not like vista - although updated stuff is appearing daily and the nice people in the mall in udon should be able to help you there

There will be security updates of XP until 2012, but no more SP or upgrades after 2009.....

I would recommend you to buy a MAC. No viruses (yet), stabile, easier to use, connect it with a TV or LCD screen and watch your movies no hassles with any settings, very good seconhand value and
if you wait a few more months until OS Leopard has been released it will last forever.

Personally I use a 13 inch MAC and watch movies on that, I thought it would be to small at first but it does it just fine.