Well, I talked to my friend some more about the various laptops out there, and he wanted me to tell you all thanks for your valuable input.
billyo & bobcox :
Thanks for the input about the S-video pinouts for the Dell laptops.
a2kmike :
Thanks for the info and reminding me about the TV setup. What my friend does is use the big-screen TVs in the bars to display karaoke with, so he really never has to lug around a separate TV. I agree that using a 15-pin VGA connection would look better, but we're looking towards hooking up to (sometimes) multiple big-screen (pre-HD) TVs, so either composite or S-video would work (S-video preferred). And yes, my friend already has figured out the solution to hooking up his system to older TVs - S-video/composite to RF modulator, so that won't be an issue.
Dean :
Now there's a thought...I never thought of using a Sony VAIO laptop for karaoke. I'm going to check some prices on that. Very interesting idea! Thanks.
Kelly :
Ooh...another vote for the 1505. Thanks! And to respond to your 2nd point (this is for everyone)...
The reason I brought up the 4-pin vs. 7-pin S-video issue is because after reading Dell's website, it seems that lots of people have problems using the 4-pin S-video cables with the 7-pin sockets. Usually, the people having problems with the cabling issues talk a lot about having the TV picture come up in B/W instead of color. I'm not sure if it's a system or video driver issue (probably the latter).
Thanks for all your input, everyone! And once again, let's keep this thread going! Happy holidays!
Jon