Help for family laptop shoppers

Shopping for a family or student laptop? There's help in the Washington Post's "2004 Laptop Guide." Interestingly, Apple's iBook G4 won in the price department and got the silver medal for weight (beaten by Gateway's 200X by just 0.6 of a pound). Do I sound like I've been watching the Olympics a lot? Seriously, I always thought of Apples as pricey, compared to PCs, so this was pleasant news (my family is agnostic - we have both an iBook and a couple of PCs and like them all). The iBook's a little light on memory, but long on battery life. Five laptops were compared by the Post's Rob Pegararo, and Rob is good about factoring in family (not just workplace) interests, so this guide's worth a look if you're in the market.