as stated above, if i were you i'd just go buy a new one. prices are getting very reasonable. if you are mainly just wanting it for tuning, keep it simple and buy one for around $500. so many people buy a $1500 computer when they only need a $500 one. walmart and bestbuy are as good a place as any to buy.
MAKE SURE you check your tuning software's reccommendations as far as what operating system to run. Vista may not play nice with certain softwares, especially older stuff. its getting difficult to find a laptop now with windows XP. if you do go with Vista, it NEEDS to have at least 2 GB of memory. Vista will run on 1GB but its very slow and very frustrating.
just my opinion, stay away from Everex and E machines. both of these will likely give issues down the road as any computer will but these will be more difficult to get parts, software and drivers for.
ebay can yield some good deals but most of the time you are either buying someone else's problem or a refurb. refurbs usually cause headaches.
stick with dell, toshiba, hp/compaq ( same company ). dell and hp/compaq are usually the easiest to fix when problems arise. their websites are pretty easy to access drivers and problems knowledge base's. sony is good but expensive. gateway is alright.
heres a nice machine but its vista-
HP - Pavilion Laptop with AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor TL-60 - dv6915nr
heres another thats cheaper but for what you get, i think id rather have the one listed above -
Walmart.com: Toshiba 15.4" A205-S5000 Laptop PC with Intel Celeron M Processor 540: Computers
^either would be alright tho.
dell did offer windows xp as a option for laptops a few months back. i dont even see the option on their site now, unless im over looking it.
heres a toshiba windows xp machine, but its not worth the price based on the specs :
Newegg.com - TOSHIBA Satellite Pro L300-EZ1004X NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5870(2.00GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 1GB Memory DDR2 667 160GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel GMA X3100 - Laptops / Notebooks