Okay... this computer is getting worse day by day. I need to replace it and I'm thinking about going with a laptop this time.

Problem is, I know very little about hardware.

I want hi-def, blu-ray compatible.... I don't use it for gaming but I do graphics, of course, and watch movies on my comp. The rest of it's usage is for writing... lots of.

I want something reliable, with plenty of storage, but that won't break the bank.

Any recommendations? (And I don't just mean: "Buy Brand Zed. They are the best." Give me reasons, please.)

try 'best buy' around July/September/January.....they have big time sales on laptops around the beginning of college semesters....i got mine for about $500.....

idk if mine is blu-ray compatible though, i've never asked.....but it has a high ram for graphics work.....it's an HP....with vista

A Blu-Ray compatible Laptop isn't cheap right now. At all. Blu-Ray is still relatively newtech and your cheapest option to get a blu-ray player in general is still a PlayStation 3. So I'm not sure if I can help you there with Blu-Ray...

However, for the rest, I'd reccomend an HP Entertainment laptop or a Toshiba. Toshiba gives you the most specs for your bucks, but HPs are a little more rugged in my experience so if you use it alot and are on the go with it it may benefit you.

I have an HP Pavilion DV-7 Laptop built for entertainment. It's got an HD Screen and all the fun stuff, but it doesn't have Blu-Ray(nor would I particularly care much about such a thing..)

I would *not* suggest spending just $500 on a laptop. A good, worthwhile laptop that will last you a few years before you can upgrade/replace again will run you at least $700, probably closer to $900 or $1000....and for a laptop, that's pretty good. Desktops you can usually afford to buy cheaper because fixing/replacing parts and peripherals is far easier, but laptops you want to spend at least a LITTLE money on. When I bought mine just under a year ago(Tax Return Season 2009), it cost me around $800 after taxes I believe. It has been INCREDIBLY reliable(except one battery incident which HP replaced for free under the warranty) and now, with the upgrade to Win7(it used to have Vista), the machine runs AMAZING.

If you have any other hardware questions, please feel free to ask me stuff

i got mine on sale.....it's normally about $650.....that's why i recommended she go around the beginnings of the average college semester....

Nice suggestion... but since this one is going out NOW, it's not feasible for me to wait another 5 months to replace it.



I use it a lot but I don't know that I'll be taking it much more than from room to room at the moment. But things change. *G* It's also possible that I may be able to get a fairly decent deal on a Dell machine (I've looked at an Inspiron 17) through my brother's office account, which would mean more machine for less money.

Check out TigerDirect:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/

They usually have some great overstock deals. And their product pages have a lot of information about each PC.

^ This.

I didn't think to include links. Either way, I'm not sure I'd go with a Dell. Their Customer Service is a pain in the ass and if anything is wrong with it they make you jump through flaming fire hoops before they'll help you. I would still say to go with HP, Toshiba, or pick something up off Tiger Direct(they often have good deals on excellent Acer machines...)

Oooh. *goes to look*

Okay... stupid question. What *is* the difference between a laptop and a notebook? Memory? Speed? Hur?

I think generally notebooks tend to have less memory, slower processors, smaller hard drives, and in some cases don't have a built in CD-DVD drive. But I don't think that's the case with all of them.

Both my wife and daughter use Acer notebooks (they bought external DVD-R drives and external 1TB drives) and they're both very happy with them.

Don't know how well they handle graphics programs.

the biggest difference is that a laptop would have a word processing program and the other usual windows programs......notebooks don't.....the user would have to subscribe to a web processing site like the ones at google, etc....

This is nearly entirely inaccurate.

Pretty much any computer you buy comes with some kind of word processor built in(most often Microsoft Works or Word).

Notebooks and Laptops are pretty much the exact same thing. They're synonymns. Then you have netbooks which are, as advertised: made to browse. They'll still have basic windows programs most of the time(including a word processor) but are smaller with a smaller screen/less power/smaller harddrive and will not be able to handle anything like Photoshop.

that's how they were described to me.....i've never used one.....so i wasn't 100% sure about it....

I did know that netbooks were different... so one point for the old lady. *L*

Yeah ... altogether that makes ... um ... carry the seven ... derivative ...

... one point for the old lady.

Goober. *L*