What sort of Laptop should I buy?

[Katymac]

I fancy
17 inch screen (I might compromise)
Windows XP (not having Vista bit scared of 7)
Umm - that's it really wouldn't say no if it was purple or green

I do lots of word/excel so I need Office

I could be tempted into an Apple if someone could assure me that I will be able to talk to MS people & that the whole thing won't be too traumatic (ie can I keep my current wireless or should I change it)

So is this realistic or am I on a hiding to nothing?

If you really don't want to try Windows 7 (and I haven't heard anything terrible about it yet, in fact what I've seen of it looks quite good) I'd go for the Mac - you will have problems finding XP except on a netbook and there will be less and less support for it as time goes on.
You shouldn't have a problem with your wireless - in fact putting DD's boyfriend's Mac on was easier than any of our XP or Vista machines.

Macs just work! Go to your local Apple Store (if you have one) here and they will be able to guide you through. They also have 'conversion courses' available through their stores.

Also, they're beautiful and THEY JUST WORK (have I said that?!)

I scared

Windows do nasty things

Macs don't! And we haven't had problems with our wireless network - twas a doddle to sort. In fact it was more hassle getting my sister's pc laptop on the network than all the macs which have visited the house!

Can I do excel on a Mac?

yeah you can do excel on a mac

Thanks

Hmm - I just realised I have only had this one a year

I better keep this one a bit longer - conspicuous consumption