seconded on Acer and ShopAcer, had 3 machines from them and never been dissatisfied
its getting harder to get new machines with XP so be persistant. The big issue is a lot of places tailor driver disks to machines so will tell you they can't sell it you with XP as they don't have the right drivers. Also if they sell it to you they have to support you on XP and that will be a sticking point.
Its even getting that you will pay a premuim for XP over Vista, here is an example
Toshiba Satellite Pro U400-127 PSU41E-01600TEN From Laptops Direct
The same spec of laptop but with Vista is available cheaper elsewhere.
as for your last comment accyman, spoken like a true muppet. The desktop Linux is here and more than capable of what 90% of users use a PC for without need for command line antics anymore, CPW and Orange are selling EeePCs bundled data packages with and even Google are in on the act with the launch of gOS(a skinned Ubuntu). You should give the latest version a try before you go slagging it off. In fact, I'm (as a geek) getting a bit bored with Linux(shock horror!) as its no longer fun learning how stuff works under the covers as it just 'does'.
To Blazey, remember that Linux doesn't cost you anything and will happily co-exist with Windows so you can have both installed and see which you prefer, you get a choice at startup as to which you would like to use. IMHO its worth initially going dual boot as people may feel they want to do something and don't yet know how to in Linux( or what the equivilant software is called). Dual boot means you have Windows only a reboot away as piece of mind whilst you make the step across.
Not sure why you are OK with Linux but anti Mac? I'd have a Mac if they weren't so expensive for what they are.