[H] Recommended Laptops/Notebooks and/or Brands

[Steve Tomporowski]

My wife's birthday is coming up in a couple of months and I'd like to 
get her a laptop/notebook she can use.  Netbooks are out for a simple 
reason--the keyboard is too small.  Recently my wife bought a new 
keyboard (through Amazon Marketplace) but she didn't like it as the 
keyboard was too narrow.  I've looked into this a little and the 
keyboard she didn't like had a measurment of 10.5" from the outside of 
the tab key to the end of the return key.  The one she like was 11.25".  
Soooo, I took a tape measure and went to Best Buy & Staples and started 
measuring.  Netbooks usually run from 9.5 to 9.75".  Keyboards these 
days have shrunk.  They range from 10.5 to 11.0 inches.  Surprisingly 
enough, some of the cheapest and smallest keyboards/laptops have the 
biggest keyboards.

Anyways, I'm looking for recommendations.  I take all customer reviews 
with a grain of salt (one guy on Newegg gave an Asus laptop one star 
because they didn't include a reinstall disk).  Of course, price is a 
major consideration.  And of course, a wide keyboard, LOL.

Thanks....Steve