Old laptop died, need a new one

BigBear

I figure there are some people on these forums who are very computer literate, so I'm wondering if anybody could help me out here. I just wanna make sure I get the right laptop, considering the one I had before was an HP Pavilion notebook that only lasted for about five years.

I'll start with what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a notebook that's fairly light, but durable and can last for a while. Does anyone know if it's possible for a laptop to last longer than five years? I suppode if one takes good enough care of it it can last longer, but I'm not sure.

I use the internet a lot, mostly for job searching, writing, and general browsing, and as an aspiring journalist I keep a blog that I want to update more often, so I'm looking for something that can handle media stuff pretty well, stuff like pictures, audio, video, that kind of thing. This would also be good since I use iTunes and iPod stuff a lot too. Maybe even games too, if it's possible to find an ideal gaming laptop that's under $1000. A recent and fast processor, a good quality video and graphics card, cooling fans that won't crap out on me after three years (although I'm aware that's a common problem with laptops) and a CD/DVD ROM drive that won't crap out after two years, ample disk space, and Windows 7 Home Edition are all must-haves.

I looked through the Best Buy flyer in the Sunday Boston Globe yesterday. They have a nice enough looking Toshiba laptop that has an Intel Core i3 processor, Windows 7 Home Edition, 4GB DDR3 memory and 500GB 7200RPM hard drive. There's also a Samsung with an Intel Core i5 processor and an Nvidia GeForce 310M graphics card with a ton of graphics memory, but it's kind of steep in terms of price, almost $800. The Toshiba is about $600. Would it be worth it to purchase one of these? What are everyone's experiences here with Toshiba or Samsung, or Sony even?

For the record, I'm not really interested in getting a laptop made by HP, Dell or Mac. HP and Dell make nice enough desktop computers, but I hear their laptops suck. Also, is it worth getting it from Best Buy?

So how about it? any suggestions?

Count Funkula

I'll give the same advice I always give people who ask me what laptop to buy: get a Macbook. Seriously. They are designed well, built to last and a dream to use. And you can even dual-boot and run Windows on them if you want to. Yes, they cost $1000, but they are worth every penny, IMHO.

soxbox

While we're handing out blanket advice: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html - if you want to play games at all, the higher you get on the list the better. Always at least figure out what crappy video card they've put in there so you're making informed comparisons. Even for casually playing occasional games, using a non ATI/Nvidia card can be very painful, but also note that most dedicated cards will play havoc with your battery life.

HP and Dell both have some decent laptops in their ranges, but they both have HUGE ranges and it's normally a pain in the arse trying to find the ones that actually have decent components in them - quality seems to bear little relationship to price - looking at the same price level will normally have a bunch of duds hiding one decent machine.

You'll generally find the best value for components in an asus or maybe an MSI. I haven't used a toshiba in a couple of years, but their laptops have always impressed me (they normally have great keyboard layout and feel and are generally fairly light for their price and component level).

Sony have some really really nice looking stuff, but you can normally find an equivalent to a sony for anywhere up to 50% less.

urahonky

considering the one I had before was an HP Pavilion notebook that only lasted for about five years

ONLY five years? That's actually incredibly good for a laptop. Think of the major hardware changes within that five years that happened while you were using the same laptop. Seriously five years in computer terms is really good.