Dell Inspiron E1505 15.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz T7200 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2GB RAM, 80GB Hard Drive, ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 Video Card,8X DVD+/-RW Drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Windows XP Media Center)

If you've been looking to go Core Duo on the cheap then wait no longer. PCMAG just busted out their Editor's Choice award on the 15.4-inch widescreen Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. Good reason too, since their $1199 test model shipped pre-loaded with XP Media Center Edition 2005 (TV tuner costs extra), sporting a 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 80GB (5400rpm) disk, 802.11b/g, Dual-layer DVD burner, and ATI Mobility Radion X1400 graphics -- not top of the line by any means, but oodles better than a lot of those integrated graphics craptops, and more likely to run Vista with some pep. PCMAG calls the E1505 "perfect" for people on a budget who "appreciate technology" which well, pretty much covers just about everyone we know. Knocks? Sure, the battery only managed about 3 hours. Righteous pricing indeed for this full featured and powerful kit.