I've heard that DIY laptops made by ASUS aren't half bad, if you're willing to put time and money into building one yourself. You can order a barebones one
here:
http://www.geared2play.com/store/pro...ptops/asus.htm but I don't know anything about it more than they're not shitty.
Aardark: Actually, you have to pay more to get a Dell without Windows. Something about subdizing the computer with crapware.
Cleaning XP Dells wasp pretty easy. Just stick the Dell Windows XP CD and it wiped it down to just a fresh XP install. Just make sure you build a driver CD before doing so. I don't know about Vista though.
Jam it back in, in the dark.