Laptop recs, anyone??

[elliejane]

So, my lifeline to the outside world, my surfing enabler, my pixel pushing, fic fetching laptop is no more.

It is (to cut a long story short) an ex-parrot.

MY LAPTOP DIEDED!!!!! Excuse me while I go woe for a bit.

::Sniff::

I am using my Dad's (bless him) for the moment.
 

Does anyone out there on my flist, have any recommendations?

I don't play video games, but I do use Photoshop. I occasionally watch an episode of tv ( on BBC iplayer and such) or watch vids on You Tube. I have the tendency of keeping lots of browser windows open at once. Also, a tendency to have several different programs open at once (e.g. Photoshop and Dreamweaver).

My basic thought is to have something which has a duel-core processor (read somewhere that this is better?), 250-500gb hard drive, 15.6" screen (or more), dvd re-writer, Windows 7 (not Vista, and Windows 7 seems to be what's on all the screens at the moment), decent amount of RAM (not sure how much that would be, though),  wireless but able to connect to the net via my current external modem with USB.....nothing utterly spectacular but something reliable and some decent power.

I am also wondering about repairability. The laptop that just died was an HP Pavillion, and although the repair chappy opened the back up and did various things, he said he deduced the processor had failed but was unable to access that bit of the kit because of the way the casing was constructed. He suggest Sony as being more accessible in this respect.

Does anyone have any thoughts??I already have an old Mac Book (which doesn't connect with the internet with my current set up) but I need a pc based machine for all my pc based programs.

Comments

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

I like my Toshiba :) They're decently priced, and work fairly well. They also have decent sized HDs. The only drawback is that it looses its charge easily when not plugged in, but it's not a major drama (just that I've noticed it more than when I had my Dell).

Also dual core processors, as far as I know, are standard now. Also also yes yes a thousand times yes to not having Vista! It sucks donkey balls. I'm not keen on Windows 7, either (we use it at work) because it's too like the most recent Mac OS and I didn't like that much either. But that's just me. So yes to 7, no to Vista (Microsoft are trying to pretend it didn't even happen, lol).

[elliejane.livejournal.com]

Heya, I am all laptopped up again! I ended up with a Sony Vaio. Thanks for your thoughts - Tosiba was one of the ones I'd narrowed it down to, but I know I'd been a bit fed up with my old one losing charge quickly, so I figured if I wasn't in love with any particular Toshiba I would give them a miss. Also, I'd found that I wasn't that keen on the keyboard.

The Vaio I've got is white, and a bit sparkly! ::headdesk:: I swear it's not a Twilight laptop! It has go a bit of a look of a Mac, and I do actually like how Macs look, so that was a good thing. Still, am happy with it so far; of course, after I got it home I found it wouldn't work with my old modem so I've ended up going wireless, at last. Which is one less lead going through the house so yay, I think, lol.

It's Windows 7, and I have to say it does confuse me a tad. I guess I'm getting used to it, but hey, the search facility is crappy! Or at least, so I'm finding (or not finding, heh). For a good while I couldn't get the search facility to find ANYTHING. For instance, and you'll know how daft THIS is, I searched for "John" in the data I'd transferred from my old lappy. Zilch, nada. And it was searching within the files (I think) automatically and I darent think how often I've written the word John in fic!

I had to haunt some forums, and tweak some settings before it would find anything at all. And the folks of the forums were bitching big time about unintuitive it is compared to (I think) XP. Gotta say, at the moment, I agree! I used to be able to search for all sorts of things on XP, with a click of the mouse and with 7, it's not just a matter of clicking some radio buttons, no, you have to remember a bunch of data strings, really, and I still don't really get it.

ANYWAYS....never mind! I had a bigger hard drive, and a battery that lasts over 2 hours (touch wood) so yay!

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

YAY! \o/ Well, it is better that you get something you're 100% happy with. Also shiny is gooooooood! (Although lol that it is both white and sparkly).

We use Windows 7 on some of the machines at work, and I really don't like it. I wouldn't rag on it because I'm sure it has its advantages, but from what I see so far I'm not keen on it (also it reminds me too much of Vista, and I have nightmares about that). Also wow shitty search function! I'll have to tell the boss' wife about that (she keeps getting annoyed when it won't find stuff. Now we know why!)

*does the yay new laptop dance*