I started using PIC chips in my college course a couple of months ago, 
and at the moment I have the Pickit1 and I use it to program the PIC16F684.

I'm branching out at the moment though and I'd like to undertake a 
project where I'll need the following:
    * A PIC chip that has at least 27 i/o pins. I don't need A-to-D or 
comparators or anything like that
    * A programmer that can hook up to my laptop to program the chip, 
and that can do in-circuit debugging which will allow me to single-step 
through the instructions and also look at the values held in memory.

Can someone please suggest a _minimalistic_ PIC chip that will do the 
job for me (i.e. one the has at least 27 i/o pins without any extra 
features), and also can you please suggest a good programmer to use. 
Preferably I'd like the programmer to hook up to my laptop via USB.

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