Ah, another Nikon man. I have my eyes on the D-70, although I would also take either the D60 or the D100. I bought my wife a Coolpix 4300 last year. It takes decent pictures but the time it takes to focus and then the delay it takes from the time you push the button after it focuses before it then takes the picture is very frustrating. It is not uncommon for us to snap a picture only to have the subject turn and walk away after we snap but before the picture actually takes. I will not buy another non-SLR digital camera.
Yes, the non-SLRs do have a lag. No such problem with my D-70. When you press the button, it takes the picture (unless you forget to turn the camera on). However, I have heard that if you shoot in rapid auto-fire mode, it does take the camera some time to write each image to the memory card and I suppose that happens with the higher-priced ones, except maybe the D2H.