Well first off I would find out what the person is going to be using? Second decide of a good processor and a good size of ram plus a healthy sized harddisk too. If this person is in a non USA area make sure they have the right modem adapter and power adapter too. Also see about sometype of carrying case too. For 40 bucks I got a carrying case that looks like a bookbag. I am sure that doesn't draw as much attention as a computer carry case would if this person travels. I bought the Toshiba satellite 2505 CDs. I bought a satellite since I use JAWS and everyone recommends it as a great laptop to use that speech software. I personally use Office 97 pro and the internet. I bought it to use as a portable system also I got at a reasonable price too. However it only has a 2 GB harddrive and no docking capabilities. This means I cant buy the adapter or port replicator and use this system as a desktop computer. I didn't attend on that feature when I bought it but its features that are nice include the USB the universal Serial bus which is suppose to be the new universal standard interface in add on accessories to a system with out taken it apart or rebooting it. I hope to add a web cam and use that as a portable CCTV. It also has a serial port a printer port a monitor port and a PS/2 port. Some smaller laptops like I think the IBM's have an adapter you attach to the rear of the system to add these ports. At one time they were prone to having pin connection problems. Last but not lease is the Infra red port. This port is for wireless communication to either a printer or a network. The speed is around 1.2 mega bits a second. I bought it at circuit city and also bought a 3 year extended warranty. It included a one year warranty and the satellite pro systems I believe come with a 3 year warranty. It is a Pentium 233mmx system with 32 megs of ram which I plan to upgrade later and it uses PC cards to add accessories that are currently on the market. Mines also included a PC card modem. Later on I am going to leave the desktop world completely so either I will get a USB scanner or a PC SCSI interface or a USB to SCSI interface. Also this system has no docks so you cant add a second hard drive or a second battery or a internal zip drive. Other models have this feature but this one has a intergraded CD floppy and harddisk. Some of the other models the floppy drive is external or you have to swap the CD drive to use the floppy drive. Well I hope this helps. On Sunday, November 29, 1998 9:45 AM, Joaquim B. Lourenco [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] wrote: > In a message dated 98-11-24 07:06:50 EST, you write: > Hi.... > In one of your messages, you mention to some one, to make sure that his <<LAP- > TOP>> suports <<USB>>. > What this abreviation means? > I'm trying to buy a nice lap-top for a blind freind of mine in Portugal, and > i dont know what to buy, because there so many things on the market, that make > me confused, and also there is so many diferent hardware and software, that > also confuse me. > I dont care much about how much i have to spend, what i want is, to buy the > right piece of equipment, with the best things inside. I dont want to came > back with it from Portugal to upgrade equipment for a great while. > I apreciate your sugestions and comments. > Very truly yours > [log in to unmask] > Later Mark A Cobb Please visit the following sites to review internet hoaxes, fraud, viruses and chain letters before sending them on. http://www.fraud.org http://www.nai.com/vinfo/ http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACChainLetters.html http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Factsheets/ispfact.html