Can anybody recommend a laptop...?

for around $500 or less? I'm very basic when it comes to what I need/want - internet (for email & school purposes), basic office capabilities (word, excel, etc...), cd burning/listening, dvd watching, and that's about it. Also, I've heard not so good things about Vista - is it still possible to get a new laptop with Microsoft XP? I'm not computer illiterate but this will be my first laptop purchase so I'm not sure what minimum requirements I'll need, so any recommendations on that will be helpful as well. Thanks!