I want to get a new laptop. Help?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I usually lurk instead of post, but that just makes me feel like I know you guys well enough to listen to your opinions about laptops. Also you aren’t all salespeople.

My current laptop is about 4 years old. It’s a Dell Latitude D620, with 2.0 GB of memory, and and 80 GB hard drive.

Every laptop I have seen in stores or catalogs has far and away more memory and a bigger hard drive, so that won’t really be an issue for me. I haven’t had any trouble with space on this laptop, even though it seems to me that I have a lot of music and pictures.

I want to get a Windows machine, since that is what I’m used to and I haven’t had any problems with what I have now (XP). How does Windows 7 compare?

What I do with my computer is write (using Word), play music, store pictures, watch movies, and surf the internet. And play PoRTaL. It would be nice to have something that would potentially work well with software like Photoshop, so that I could be an artist in my imaginary spare time.

The reasons I want a new laptop are:
I would like something that has a battery life longer than 2 hours.
I would like a laptop that is lighter than the one I have now (not a requirement, and I don’t know how much the one I have now weighs).
I want to have a computer that wasn’t set up by the university I recently graduated from.

…and I just want a new laptop. My birthday is coming up anyway.

I would like to know what would be a good laptop for a reasonable price. Sturdiness is a major plus. With the one I have now, I guess I opened it too many times and the monitor hinge broke, pretty annoying.

Help, please?

(Hopefully my request for sturdiness does not result in only $2000 bomb-proof laptops being suggested. I’m on the path to be a professor, not a bomb-heavy profession in my experience.)

2

What screen size is your current laptop, and what size would you prefer?
What price range would you like to go for?

3

My current screen is 14.1", and I would like to stick to 14-inch models.

I hope to find a laptop that is less than $600. It would take a lot of convincing of the awesomeness of any particular model before I paid more than that.

4

Consider a Dell Outlet or Lenovo Outlet laptop.

Oh, and a manufacturer’s outlet doesn’t always mean used and refurbished. I have two laptops from Lenovo. Both were brand new when I bought them from the outlet. Both never left the factory until I bought them. Both were canceled order laptops, meaning the original customer canceled their order before shipping. So I bought two new laptops at 40 percent off.

5

Thanks for the lead Duckster, that sounds like a good idea. I will check that out tomorrow.

6

Get a Toshiba Satellite. They’re solid, dependable machines, and Toshiba’s warranty kicks ass.

7

Yes, a good warranty would be a considerable advantage. I was thankful for the one my university provided for the one I have now.