spss is incompatible with vista so that's why you're having the problem louise. to be honest, you're probably best off with an XP laptop anyways (if you can still find a place that will sell you it) as it's a better OS than vista. (i have problems with my vista). as for specialist software, again if you'll be using eprime and the like,you're best off with xp as most of these programs are incompatible with vista and aren't made for the mac OS.