Well Folks I decided to try adding a half a gig of RAM since my current sony was not really that old. I am pleased to say that the difference is absolutely amazing. I wish I had thought of that a lot sooner. If you are considering the same you can go to crucial.com website and they have a System Scanner tool on their site that will analyze your computer and tell you exactly what memory or upgrade you need for your system. I was able to upgrade to 1 gig for less than a $100 and it made a tremendous difference. Right now they are running a special that if you buy memory over $40 they offer free shiping!
This is a old thread but I got a HP Pavilion, though a friend of mine worked at HP and got it for me at cost. I is a very nice machine, and the larger battery is wonderful lasting about 6 hours.