I'm modifying a few previous queries that resulted in some very good info. I found out that, yes indeed, there are places that sell notebooks with no OS. That's what I'm looking for.

But the lady I'm getting it for tells me she'd like to find it right here in Canada. The real ace would be to find it in the Vancouver area, but anywhere will do. She is cautious, however, of sending across borders for her computer. Okay, it's her computer, so I'm seeing what I can do.

She's hoping for a low price, by which she means $1,000 to $1,500 CDN. I have a few things figured out. RAM, 1+ GB; L2 1+ meg. The hard drive can be as small as just 30 GB (although I expect it'll be bigger), but its speed is to be 5400 rpm. No OS.

Although most laptops seem to have DVDs these days, it's been brought to my attention that an external DVD burner might be just fine if it saves her enough money. As a schoolteacher, she expects to be using this laptop at home and at school 90% of the time, and infrequently in cafés, where she'll avoid using the batteries whenever plug-ins allow (there are quite a few plug-in friendly cafés around here).

I can easily do most config modifications for her myself, but of course I'm hoping to get something that comes with—or can be customized pre-sale to come with—as close as possible to what she needs. It's not for gaming, but as I explained elsewhere, she will indeed be putting it to task. I'm a writer myself, and I am all too familiar with the myth that not-gamers don't need much oomph in their systems. No hourglasses, please. (Well, not too many, and not for too long.)

But the main question remains: Available in Canada, available with no OS.

Thanks.