Pros- XP
- No unwanted software
- Excellent choice of available options
- No glare screen
- Firewire
- Good combination of external ports and USB
- Price
I spent way too much time shopping and comparing laptops before settling on this PC but it has met all expectations at a great price. I needed a new PC for the basics (email, internet access, music downloads, video burning, photos, general documentation and spreadsheets). Because I don't use a PC for gaming or intensive applications, I chose the 1.4GH dual core 2 processor and that has worked out very well for the tasks I need. I find the anti-glare screen that comes as the default to be much less distracting than the high gloss screen, though I don't use this to watch a lot of video. It was ready to go out of the box and did not require the usual time to identify and remove all the unwanted software that comes on most PCs. The default wireless card has had very good to excellent performance. Though I use an external mouse, the built in touch pad is very responsive and not a bad alternative when necessary.
Cons- No built in reader for compact flash card

Review:My wife has an older Dell desktop that we also wanted to replace before XP Home was unavailable. After using the Vostro for a few weeks we decided to buy a second one for her. This is an excellent choice if you're looking for a very good basic laptop that doesn't come with a bunch of unnecessary frills.