Quote - on a second note, by the time i buy this laptop, it will probably have Windows 7 running on it... by the sounds of it, wouldn't it be better just to stick to that OS?

Windows 7 is not faster as XP on laptops. You need a quad core processor to profit from the adantage that Windows 7. Otherwise XP is running faster also on PC. There were many tests that proved that.

If you're on a PC and do nothing Windows 7 needs 600-900 MB RAM while XP needs only around 300 MB RAM.

And of course there is a XP PROFESSIONAL 64 BIT.

I work with XP PRO 64 bit (with a dual core processor) on a PC. I used Windows 7 RC 64bit for one month before I returned to my old XP Pro 64bit.  I worked on both with Poser 8 and I can say there is no difference.

Windows 7 needs 20 GB of your harddrive, Windows XP under 5 GB. Windows 7 has a lot of optical effects, that I don't need (AeroPeek).

If you don't load big scenes in Poser stick with XP 32 bit, if you want to load bigger scenes use XP Pro 64 bit so that you can use your 4 GB without any problems.  Make sure your processor is supporting 64 bit. This is a good combination.