I have my FH installed on a windows 7 networked laptop without any problem whatsoever. I cannot think that v5 would have any problems with this. It was initially working, again without problems, on a vista laptop before my better half inherited that and I bought a bang up to the minute one for myself. If you want to treat yourself I suggest you just go for whatever you can afford in the up to date market, but get the full stand alone version and not an upgrade on an upgrade etc. Good luck Shelagh Original question _ "what hardware set up would be the ultimate, affordable and unaffordable, to treat [or be treated to] within the FH fraternity? Clearly there are diverse machines and Windows versions (pace Mac believers) but is there a consensus on targets for best buys? Petergb"