What laptop to buy?

MAC is going to be out of that price range (thats ok, though not bad computers they’re usually badly overpriced).

Toshiba, HP, and Sony are all good brands. Specific models would be hard to give you as they change very often. What specifically you want to do with the computer could help us give you an idea of what to look for in the “stats” of the computer.

Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony

@tedd : Good point. Truth is, it can be pretty basic. Not necessary for work, just home use and Internet. Needs to be able to handle some home use apps, like word processing and spreadsheet stuff, but I don’t need huge amounts of GB, My needs are pretty simple. The gasping and dying one I’m on now is a Toshiba, over 5 years old. Pretty good track record, I’d say!

Yah I have had two Toshiba lap tops. The first one was stolen but did fine for the year I had it. The second I still use today, and even nearing 2 years after I bought it, it plays brand new games on lowest graphics settings. Since you won’t need to be playing games on it and need it for more basic needs, I would say go into a couple of stores and just ask to see their oldest model Toshiba. A refurbed one might be a good way to save some money too (just make sure you pop it on right away to check for things not working, just in case).

You won’t need more than a few gig of ram. You won’t need a quad core (dual though would be a good idea). Hard drive is pretty much at your own will (pending how much crap you eventually want to put on it). Dvd-rw and all the other bells and whistles come pretty standard these days.

I have a Toshiba. I love it.

I know price is an important consideration, but the things I look for are lots of memory (and the ability to add even more), a monitor large and clear enough for all kinds of work, state-of-the-art processor, and as important as any of that—for me, at least—a keyboard I really like.

Go with the largest screen size you can find.

Forget brand names, especially if you want to keep it under $800. As far a s bells and whistles go, they all have the same junk.
And, any differences you probably will not notice or wont mater.

I agree with ChazMaz. i wanted an Apple, and when I got my Toshiba it was a gift I was a little disappointed because it wasn’t one of the big names, but it works the same if not better than my sister’s brand new Hp laptop.

The one with the Apple logo in it.

Ah, @MeinTeil : didn’t read the details, huh.

oops, no, my admiration got the best of me.

As someone who’s been spending the last month or so searching for a new PC laptop, I’ve become familiar with almost all of them.

Toshiba is known for being cheaper than say, Dell or HP (on average). But, Dell’s Inspiron line is relatively cheap and they’re quality computers for average use (they’re not going to be super powerful).

First off, how big do you want it to be? Some people are really strict about size. The Dell Inspiron 15 is a good “basic” laptop that can be bought for under $1000 with 4 GB of memory, 500 GB or HDD space, and a Core 2 Duo processor.

If you’re still into Toshiba, take a look at the Satellite C650 and L650. They’re 15-inch laptops that can definitely both be purchased for under $1000, probably under $800.

From bitter experience avoid Hewlett Packard as the dv series has a design flaw which means the motherboard overheats and burns out though usually not until after the guarantee has expired. Expensive to fix and will probably recur.

I have been doing some research on laptops because I am considering purchasing one too. I thought to forget name brand as well until the more I read peoples reviews I noticed that some of the lesser known brands and lesser costing laptops (Acer, E Machines etc) tend to be more of a problem and HP, Dell, etc tend to have better reviews. My brother did purchase a Compaq Presario laptop a couple of months ago which I have used and neither he nor I have had any problems. However, I have owned a Compaq and an HP desktop and I did prefer the HP. So, I think I am going to purchase a HP.

ArpitaBarua~why is Apple or Dell the best choice?

i recently bought Dwll 14 R Inspiron, its under 800 dollars and very useful for a general user.