I'm in the market for a new laptop, but I'm having trouble narrowing down my choices. So, of course, I thought I'd ask all the experts at AO.

I'm going to be in school for computer security, but I'm also running my own business. I'm familiar with (and still learning) linux, but I need software that only runs on XP for my business. So, what I'm looking for is a laptop that comes with XP (which almost all do) that I can repartition and reload everything so I have a dual-boot XP/Linux.

So, I need a laptop that has hardware that is supported under linux--I anticipate using it for wardriving exercises, so the wireless NIC must be supported under linux (I'm probably going to use Fedora, but I'm flexible). I would like something with a relatively simple install.

This is a big investment for me, so I would like something that will last for quite some time. Because of the work I do for my business, I need parallel and serial ports, which are getting harder to find on notebooks. I also want either a true Pentium 4 or high end AMD processor (in my desktop computers I've been extremely happy with AMD).

It's possible that at some point I'll be using this for vulerability assessment, penetration testing, and/or forensics, so that should all be a consideration.

Of course, I'd also like to keep the price below about $1800.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
HQ