Looking for a recommend portable laptop that fits...

You likely can get a better deal on the internet than BestBuy, and free shipping may be available, and you will pay no sales tax if you purchase out-of state (they will inform you). To find out what the computer requirements of the program you desire to use, try to find the "minimum requirements" which will be somewhere in your installation CD, but really should be on the box it came in. If not on the box, it should be in the instruction manual. A word of warning: "minimal" does not mean "optimal". Optimal means that you will be able to run the program without it being so slow that you want to tear your hair out. Design programs, I would assume, require decent graphics. A good graphics card is cheap in a desktop, but may be pricier in a laptop. However, the rage for great graphics capabilities for kids whose life consists of videogames has provided us with remarkably inexpensive laptops with great graphics capabilities. The prices keep falling: what was 1600 a year ago can now be found for $650. Since you do not require all the glop which comes with Vista, (the product still isn't ready for non-geeks, and requires enormous amounts of memory and a good Dual-core processor, I would highly recommend getting XP as your operating system, or else a Mac, which most graphics freaks prefer. Unfortunately, it's very hard to get a new laptop with XP. SO. What does the program say are its minimal requirements?