hmm.. so it looks like dell are still doing Linux PC's (they have been doing these since 98'ish). I read some where a few years back that they stopped shipping Linux with their PC's due to lack of demand.
Just one question with your laptop. Does it connect to your internet/lan with Vistas own software or does it use a vendor (laptop manufactures own) specific software (it does cause some headaches I had this problem with a wireless lan and the vendors software was the root of the problem).
Just out of curiosity look in the control panel for Administrative tools->Local Security policy and in the Local Policies->Security Options in the left hand pane in the right hand pane there should be Network Access: LAN Manager authenication doubble click it to bring up a dialog and change the setting to Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session if negotiated.
Just one question with your laptop. Does it connect to your internet/lan with Vistas own software or does it use a vendor (laptop manufactures own) specific software (it does cause some headaches I had this problem with a wireless lan and the vendors software was the root of the problem).
Just out of curiosity look in the control panel for Administrative tools->Local Security policy and in the Local Policies->Security Options in the left hand pane in the right hand pane there should be Network Access: LAN Manager authenication doubble click it to bring up a dialog and change the setting to Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session if negotiated.