As you can tell by now Kris, computers and peripherals are largely a matter of personal opinion and preference. One user's bad experience, is another user's recommendation.
In the end, it's what you like. I, nor anyone else can say HP is a "bad" brand. It's simply personal experience and choice. Keep in mind that HP is, for the most part, simply a brand name - in essence, a manufacturer who only assembles the parts into a whole (motherboard, ram, CPU, HD are all made by other common manufacturers).
The tablet-type you mention (everything built into the monitor), has been around for a while. I personally don't like them, as upgrading the components can be difficult (similar to some laptops), but again, just my choice. If you like everything in one compact unit, and upgrading won't be a concern for you, then they are nice little pc's.
The battle between laptops and pc's will go on forever, and each has their good and bad points. Laptops are handy as you can simply pick them up and use them anywhere (for internet, you must have access to a wifi connection). Whereas pc's typically have more processing power, HD space, upgradability, larger screens, etc - but take up more room, and aren't portable.
Windows 7 definitely wins hands down over Visa, from speed tests, to boot tests, to stability tests. In fact, MS rushed the W7 release to replace Vista asap (and appease the market).
There are different versions of W7 (Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate). Each comes in 32 and 64 bit versions. Microsoft has a good comparison chart on the differences between the versions. I'm running Ultimate 64 on my server, and Ultimate 32 on my wife's laptop - both run excellent, with no issues (again, another opinion).
Kat - sorry to hear about your driver troubles with the 64x. From my experience with the server I'm running at home (wireless network connecting 3 pcs, 1 laptop, 2 printers, and a slew of multimedia devices), I've had limited issues. Some manufacturers have been somewhat slow on the draw in releasing the 64x drivers, but for the most part, it should be a thing of the past (unless you're using a Russian device manufactured during the cold war
).
The choice between 64 and 32 is yours alone, just bear in mind that if you go with 32, you're limited to 4 gigs. If you think your needs may increase in the near future, you'll have to spend another $150+ to upgrade your OS, as well as the ram. If you go with the 64x now, you have expandability in the future.
Regarding Acer - my wife's laptop is an Acer that has worked flawlessly (again, Acer only makes the shell and puts the components together) - I wouldn't shy away from the brand, put your research into the components within.
I'm in Ontario and shop at either Canada Computers, or Tiger Direct. Both have stores in Ontario, but ship Canada wide (just check out their websites). Hope this helps, and just let me know if there's anything else I can be of help with.
Cheers,
Bushmills
Seriously though, Thank you for the info. When we start paying for our own wireless service I'll be sure to try and fix that.
We'll be married 30 years this May and never wanted children. Not that I don 't love kids... just never wanted any of my own. I like to spoil them and then send them home. LOL. Me and the Hubby go twice a year to Disney. We're leaving in the morning for our first stay at BLT. Can't wait!! 
as for the brand I get different opinions from everybody. I've found the Acer is the cheapest but all that I've heard about them is that they are crap. While browsing recently I've noticed that they make a desktop type computer without the tower, all components are built into the monitor (like the Mac) and can be hooked up to wireless. Any experience with these?
Welcome Nancy! Leaving in the morning? I'm jealous
