Just in case anyone is interested, after some more research and shopping around, I ended up buying a Toshiba Satellite R15-S822. It has 256 level pressure sensitivity, and a 14.1 inch display that was a little larger than the 10.1 and 12.1's that most manufacturers were offering. Personally, I'd far rather have the extra screen real-estate than save a pound or two... I'm a big girl, I can handle it. It runs the Wacom "Penabled" standard, so it works a lot like a Cintiq. (there is a listing of Penabled compliant manufacturers on the Wacom website at http://www.wacom.com/tabletpc/oem.cfm) As it turns out, most all 'modern' tablet PC's are pressure sensitive, but only to 256 levels (as opposed to 512 or 1024 for a Cintiq) and the resolution is XGA (1024) as opposed to higher resolutions w/ Cintiq (full comparison: http://www.wacom.com/tabletpc/comparison.cfm) The selling point for me was that Toshiba has a trial version of Alais' Sketchbook Pro installed & running. (It came w/ a trial of version 1, but here's a link to version two: http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/product_details.jsp?productId=1900006) It's always mystified me that no art software was installed on these the display models in the store, and I (incorrectly) thought that was an indication they were unsuitable for art, so I didn't buy one. Let me tell you... I've never actually used a Cintiq, so this is -nirvana- for me. After about two minutes sketching on it in the store, it was in my -shoes- (ask your girlfriend what that means... she'll need context) and I was well beyond "maybe this is a good idea" and all the way to "I must have it! Bring me one NOW!!" (Yes, literally two minutes... As long as you're minimally conversant with Alias' menu style, where you click and hold on the icon to expand to other possibilities then drag to the one you want, same as in Maya, sketchbook pro is just that easy to get started on) This thing is on sale right now, several places, for about $1450-1499 US. When compared to every other decent one I found running $1899 minimum, and many as much as $4000, this will fit the student budget just fine. Anyway... Thanks for your comments. Sorry to gush about this thing, but I am just -amazed-. I'd have to say it's an excellent set ot training wheels on my way to a Cintiq, and with the added fact that it's a fully functional computer as well... I really can't see myself being without this, or something like it at any point in the future. ~H