I just got a new laptop. Go for the largest amount of RAM which I believe is 2 G. Also get one with the largest HD space. Currently that is 160 G but I did see one that had 220 G but it had two hard drives. Monitor size? That depends I went from 14 inch to 15.4 - mostly because the smaller monitors didn't have the Ram or HD space I was wanting. I never compute at a desk- always sit in a recliner so the 17 inch monitor would be cumbersome. Just depends on where you plan to do most of your digiscrapping/computer work. ALso make sure the card reader will work with your camera card. My sales person responded incorrectly to this question and my new laptop won't accept my particular camera card. Also to consider that a new computer is going to be Vista operating system- not all older software has patch updates so you will want to research that also unless you are wanting to get new software also.