Buddy - cool stuff. Can you use "legacy" lenses on that puppy? Sometimes I wonder if I am paying too much for the Nikon lenses. The prices on the AIS lenses seems to be going up at the moment 
Hey!
John, yes, it will take virtually any Minolta AF lens made since it first came out in 1985.
Actually, I have to admit that Minolta were a bit slow in releasing DSLR and that I would say was the down fall of Minolta
Anyway, because of that couple of years ago when those people couldn't wait they switched camp and dumped their Minolta AF lens on eBay and etc. Since I didn't really need DSLR back than and instead of switching camp I was snatching up some of prime lenses off eBay for pretty good price
Yes, all those prime lenses on this puppy will be come stabilized because the stabilizer is built in the body.
Anyway, as for the A700. It is a nice camera. But there is a rumor among Sony users on the net that it is about to be discontinued soon. They believe is the fact that it does not have "Live View" feature like it competitors and this could be the cause for them to pull it out and release a new improved body. Also, Sony anounced that they are now developing a 24 Meg full frame sensor of which I believe it will be in their future flagship DSLR.
Also, there is one more thing that I'm glad that I didn't switched camp is the fact that I believed that Sony own part of Zeiss company or at least licened and they are now release of beautiful AF prime and zoom lenses right now for their camera line
Actually I have a 16-80mm 3.5-4.5f Sony/Zeiss zoom and it is my favorite all-around zoom. But! Right now I'm lusting over their new Zeiss zoom... the 24-70mm f2.8, constant f2.8 I might add. And it is a full frame zoom so I could use it with my old Minolta film SLR body
And this could be the start of what many think would come.... a full frame 24Mega DSLR body.
Sadly I can't afford that 24-70mm f2.8 Zeiss right now.
Anyway, I have a job coming in June and I will need to buy a new DSLR soon. Right now the lowest price I've seen here in the US is $1199 for the body. If I didn't have job coming I would wait and see if they will release an improved version soon. But! If I they put the A700 for less than $1K I would definitely get one.
Here is Sony site about their line of DSLR...
http://www.sony.net/Products/dslr/index.htmlTake care,
Buddy
