[ale] Dell laptop - recommendations?

[Jeff Hubbs]

> I figure for something to give my sister - something in the P3, 500-650Mhz, 
> 256Mg RAM range would suffice. It will be mainly for writing proposals, so a 
> newer P4 would be a bit much. Also like that they are sold with no OS, so I'm 
> not paying for something I wouldn't use.

I'm not quite clear on this - who offers laptops with no OS?  I'm likely
to FINALLY be in the market for myself pretty soon.  

I'm also interested to know - aside from HP, who else's laptops have a
scrolling area next to the touchpad?

- Jeff