You guys are awesome... thanks. This laptop does have the ability to hook up an additional monitor, so that may very well be what I do next. These high-bright screens are awesome, absolutely incredible, but... they're made to be 'brighter' and more vivid.

Man, I wish I could afford a Mac! But i have my eye on a Vaio desktop (to die for!)... we'll see.

Okay, SO... now that I'm considering an additional monitor so I can make graphics that will make sense (if that makes sense), do you guys know if ANY monitor can be used with any machine?? For example, my 'dream machine' is a Sony Vaio, so if I get a nice flat screen that will work with that for later (when I have the desktop), do you think it will work with my laptop in the meantime?.... laptop is a Toshiba.

BTW, my old pc's monitor was SO shot. The brightness had to be kept ALL the way down, the contrast kept ALL the way up... or things looked bad, and even then they didn't look right. I used Adobe Gamma Loader as well, but it didn't help.. might have made things worse actually. But this high-bright monitor does tend to wash out blacks online, etc. Weird, and I'm not sure if it's 'supposed' to do that or not. Hmmnn.