Lap Top Recommendations Wanted

So last night, I'm chasing Tux around the house playing games with him. I stepped over the power cord to my laptop but ended up hooking the cord with my back foot. My lap top literally "crashed"; when you turn it on, all you can see is what looks like modern art with a crack in the middle.

So now I'm in the market for a new laptop. Up to this point, I've had Dells. The laptop I destroyed was only about a year old and it was great for my needs. Windows 7, Intel Core i3 processor; it was superfast.

What I'm looking for is a basic laptop that's speedy. I don't do gaming on it and I don't use it as a music source. All I do is surf, work from home (by logging into my work PC from it) and occasionally download music. I can get a similar Dell to the one I wrecked (with a newer processor) through work for about $585. I'm looking for something in that price range or cheaper. I don't need anything to handle fancy graphics but I do want an HD compatible monitor (preferably 17" or so).

So, any recommendations?

BTW, right now I'm using my old Dell with Windows Vista. Ugh, what a dog this thing is.

I have a dell inspiron 17 and i enjoy it alot.

I've got a HP Pavilion dv6 but it's my first laptop so I don't know how it compares to others. Works pretty well and it fell onto a brick fireplace (not a long drop thankfully) and there was no damage. Plus I got it refurbished from Best Buy for a reduced price.

I really like my Acer Aspire

Toshiba Satellite is my favorite. i bought the L870 for less than $600, with 6gb ram, 500gb hd, 17.3 inch screen, & it came with windows 7 home premium 64 bit, but i removed that & installed a Linux. best damn note book i've ever had.

Thanks for the info guys!

I am on HP TX-1005 AU Tablet, and this is an awesome machine, but I also have eyes on Dell Adamo.

BTW: I am a Linux user.

Ended up getting a Dell Inspiron 17R; basically an upgraded version of the laptop I destroyed. Bigger HD screen and newer/faster processor.

tohostudios wrote:

Ended up getting a Dell Inspiron 17R; basically an upgraded version of the laptop I destroyed. Bigger HD screen and newer/faster processor.

thats what i have. I love the bigger screen.

I'm on the new laptop.

I can't believe what a difference the 17" screen makes. It's almost the same reaction I had when I got my big screen TV; it feels like I'm getting a suntan sitting in front of it.

tohostudios wrote:

I'm on the new laptop.

I can't believe what a difference the 17" screen makes. It's almost the same reaction I had when I got my big screen TV; it feels like I'm getting a suntan sitting in front of it.

it is great I can even watch netflix on it and not be disappointed.

mc666 wrote:

Toshiba Satellite is my favorite. i bought the L870 for less than $600, with 6gb ram, 500gb hd, 17.3 inch screen, & it came with windows 7 home premium 64 bit, but i removed that & installed a Linux. best damn note book i've ever had.

My favorite PC laptop. I've owned a satellite, fast, killer display. But, still a Windows computer.

I will always recommend going with a MacBook. The learning curve will be short and it will last for years...infact, it will last so long you'll be replacing it simply because so much time has gone by, you'll want a new one. It's nothing to have an apple computer of any type last well into 10 years. And if you don't game, then you don't care there aren't many games for the Mac.

If all you do is surf the web....go Mac if you can afford it. You'll never have to worry about spyware or virus software again. I've been using Apples for 15 years and never had a virus, worm, trojan horse or anything else. Their operating system blows any windows platform away speed wise. And it will be just as fast 5 years from now without all the "cleanup" and constant maintenance.

[quote="T-Roy"]

mc666 wrote:

You'll never have to worry about spyware or virus software again. I've been using Apples for 15 years and never had a virus, worm, trojan horse or anything else. Their operating system blows any windows platform away speed wise. And it will be just as fast 5 years from now without all the "cleanup" and constant maintenance.

This is actually a common Myth, believe me...The OSX can be hacked and exploited "just as easy"....hackers won't even dare because it's still not that huge of an OS compared to Windows, hence , not worth it...Ever heard of the malware that infected 700,000 Macs more than a month ago?

Wait till the worldwide OSX population increases by, say 30 percent, then we have an entirely different ballgame, remember...Looters will never go to a place where there's too little to loot

I've had my Toshiba laptop since 2006 and it's been pretty good overall. I especially like the harman/kardon speakers it came with.

[quote="EmoElmo"]

T-Roy wrote:

mc666 wrote:

You'll never have to worry about spyware or virus software again. I've been using Apples for 15 years and never had a virus, worm, trojan horse or anything else. Their operating system blows any windows platform away speed wise. And it will be just as fast 5 years from now without all the "cleanup" and constant maintenance.

This is actually a common Myth, believe me...The OSX can be hacked and exploited "just as easy"....hackers won't even dare because it's still not that huge of an OS compared to Windows, hence , not worth it...Ever heard of the malware that infected 700,000 Macs more than a month ago?

Wait till the worldwide OSX population increases by, say 30 percent, then we have an entirely different ballgame, remember...Looters will never go to a place where there's too little to loot

thanks for setting the record straight!

I find it funny that microsoft was sued over bundling of IE with its operating system but Apple get away with users having to establish an account on iTunes in order to get the iphone up an running, enforcing on users that Apple is the primary source of legal digital content.

It's not specifically an iTunes account, it's an Apple ID which is an account used across all Apple products. All software updates to the iPhone are authenticated through this ID.

The iPhone is Apple hardware, Microsoft was having Windows sold with many different hardware manufactures, thus the lawsuit.

[quote="EmoElmo"]

T-Roy wrote:

mc666 wrote:

You'll never have to worry about spyware or virus software again. I've been using Apples for 15 years and never had a virus, worm, trojan horse or anything else. Their operating system blows any windows platform away speed wise. And it will be just as fast 5 years from now without all the "cleanup" and constant maintenance.

This is actually a common Myth, believe me...The OSX can be hacked and exploited "just as easy"....hackers won't even dare because it's still not that huge of an OS compared to Windows, hence , not worth it...Ever heard of the malware that infected 700,000 Macs more than a month ago?

Wait till the worldwide OSX population increases by, say 30 percent, then we have an entirely different ballgame, remember...Looters will never go to a place where there's too little to loot

A myth? I've been using Macs for 15 years and never have my macs or any of the system macs been compromised. Of course any computer can be hacked. The fact is, it's extremely rare no matter the reasoning. I'm always amazed how a mac virus goes public and everyones like "see they have them too." LOL. This is like an everyday occurrence over the globe for PC's.

Don't get me wrong, I buy PC's, use PC's. The fact is the Mac is a better, safer choice if you have the money.

T-Roy wrote:

if you have the money.

And that's the nub of it for me.