We have 2 toshiba laptops and 1 Dell laptop, and 1 Gateway. I can't imagine why anyone would have told you to stay away from a Toshiba..sure they didn't say Compact? We've got lots of computer guru's in our family, and not a one has ever had a bad thing to say about Toshiba's. My brother worked for NCR as a repairman since back when computers took up whole rooms, and he had nothing bad to say. If your nephew is a computer whiz, he might be better to help you with the buying. Toshiba gets great reviews.
I personally would never buy another laptop, where I couldn't sit and try out the keyboard (and I wouldn't get a Celeron..I prefer the chip made for laptops, that stays cooler..I thought I had read Cereron was not a preferred chip for laptops). The Dell is ok, but it's heavy, and I hate hate the keyboard (I used it for several hours at a time when I used to do craft fairs and brought the computer with me to personalize items). The Dell laptop itself has been fine, but the Toshiba is a lot more comfortable for longer term. I would never have a laptop as a main computer, but for dragging it around the Toshiba is sweet.
I personally would get a desktop for the lake (or wherever you'll be using it the most, since you prob would be using it a lot and it's more comfortable..my girlfriend just got a great Gateway from Office Depot that was really loaded with harddrive (160 gig) and memory(1024) and an awesome flat monitor, way better than the cheap one Dell offers with their inexpensive machines..tried to price her out a Dell, and this was far better with what it had, and a better price than she could get direct from Gateway) and a very inexpensive laptop for dragging back and forth from Florida, since you'll prob just be using it more for email. But I would still try out the keyboard first...if you hate it, you won't use it much. I went to Circuit City and CompUSA and tried them all..they have them all lined up.
