Laptop shopping need inputs
Am currently looking for a new laptop,
Long story short my current machine is having some hardware issues. I currently own and HP Pavillion. I sent it in earlier this spring for repairs and I thought it was fixed but now...
1) Essentially I'm having difficulty staying connected to the net. It will keep me on for 10 to 15 minutes and then for no reason disconnect. Brian is currently out of town playing the role of nature boy so I am unable to rule out anything on the internet end of things. Should it turn out to be the lappy giving the trouble I can get a wireless card that will take up residence in one of my USB ports. It's a cheap fix but it makes it so I am down to 1 USB port.
2) My compy is consistently crashing. I don't know why this is. I have gone through and upgraded all of my software, , google chrome, itunes etc. My windows is set up to automatically update. I have also run the virus scans, the adaware scans etc. etc. The computer is set up to auto defrag every Wednesday when I'm not home. These are things that help but sometimes it still crashes and I cry
3) Last Christmas I got a external hard drive and transferred all my photos and music onto this. This seems to have helped to speed the machine up a bit. But like all forms of technology after awhile they just start to wear down.
4) No matter what I do, this isn't a desktop that I can just replace parts in. Laptops can't get plastic surgery like a desktop can. Sad face.
So over the next few months I will be setting aside some moneys and shopping for a new laptop/notebook and I would like your input on the current machines on the market. Here is what I am looking for and using the machine for
1) Preference to a laptop is such that I simply do not have the space or desk to place desktop on. The past few years of sitting in bed in front of the computer have spoiled me to the point that I can't go back to being chained to a desk... Something light would be preferable as well as something with a long battery life. Less cords is always nice.
2) I use my current machine as a media center more than anything. So include Netflix, Hulu, The Daily show via flash and all those other random websites I watch my media on. I also use it to edit photos, and play mp3s. These are stored on an external hard drive so my machine is not slowed down and I can continue to do things like take pictures and expand my music library. I do not have photoshop yet but I would like to own it in the near future. I recently sold all my dvds due to the fact that my netflix account caused me not to watch ANY of them in the last year.
3) I do not need this machine for gaming. Most of my gaming is done on a console.... Mainly Brians PS3 and Noah's PS3. So gaming really is not an issue. I also refuse to pay monthly fees to play a game with no ending. Period
4) More USB ports would be nice as well as a larger screen. This is where I start to look away from the tiny minibooks. As cute and nice as they are I simply have a little too much media for them. I would prefer multiple USB ports as I currently have the ipod, the external hard drive and my camera to hook up to the current machine. At somepoint somewhere I always end up having to unplug one thing or another. I have yet to hook my phone up to my compy for this reason. One more thing to plug in and one more thing to unplug. I'm also looking to get an ereader in the near future. Real books are becoming more and more unbelievably expensive and this includes paperbacks. The ICPL currently offers ebooks to check out. No late fees and no waiting for books to come back in. Win. So that's one more possible device that I will have to store data on and possibly plug in.
5) Looking for something less than $1000. Yes that rules out a Macbook. As pretty as they are I just can't/won't justify the expense.
Now I know this hasn't narrowed down my options. But I would like some input from other laptop users or people you know who own and can provide feedback on their machines. My HP was a decent machine but it didn't last as long as long as my craptop compaq back in college that ran Windows ME. However, when I did have to mail it back into the company the results were rather astounding. It was gone for exactly one week and came back fixed. So a good warranty package with great tech support would be nice. I've been looking at the Gateway NV series and peaking at the Dell Inspiron 15 or 17. A larger screen would be nice. The Sony Vaio's are nice but out of my price range. Toshiba's have also been coming up high on review lists out there. So really any input on what to get would be great.
Long story short my current machine is having some hardware issues. I currently own and HP Pavillion. I sent it in earlier this spring for repairs and I thought it was fixed but now...
1) Essentially I'm having difficulty staying connected to the net. It will keep me on for 10 to 15 minutes and then for no reason disconnect. Brian is currently out of town playing the role of nature boy so I am unable to rule out anything on the internet end of things. Should it turn out to be the lappy giving the trouble I can get a wireless card that will take up residence in one of my USB ports. It's a cheap fix but it makes it so I am down to 1 USB port.
2) My compy is consistently crashing. I don't know why this is. I have gone through and upgraded all of my software, , google chrome, itunes etc. My windows is set up to automatically update. I have also run the virus scans, the adaware scans etc. etc. The computer is set up to auto defrag every Wednesday when I'm not home. These are things that help but sometimes it still crashes and I cry
3) Last Christmas I got a external hard drive and transferred all my photos and music onto this. This seems to have helped to speed the machine up a bit. But like all forms of technology after awhile they just start to wear down.
4) No matter what I do, this isn't a desktop that I can just replace parts in. Laptops can't get plastic surgery like a desktop can. Sad face.
So over the next few months I will be setting aside some moneys and shopping for a new laptop/notebook and I would like your input on the current machines on the market. Here is what I am looking for and using the machine for
1) Preference to a laptop is such that I simply do not have the space or desk to place desktop on. The past few years of sitting in bed in front of the computer have spoiled me to the point that I can't go back to being chained to a desk... Something light would be preferable as well as something with a long battery life. Less cords is always nice.
2) I use my current machine as a media center more than anything. So include Netflix, Hulu, The Daily show via flash and all those other random websites I watch my media on. I also use it to edit photos, and play mp3s. These are stored on an external hard drive so my machine is not slowed down and I can continue to do things like take pictures and expand my music library. I do not have photoshop yet but I would like to own it in the near future. I recently sold all my dvds due to the fact that my netflix account caused me not to watch ANY of them in the last year.
3) I do not need this machine for gaming. Most of my gaming is done on a console.... Mainly Brians PS3 and Noah's PS3. So gaming really is not an issue. I also refuse to pay monthly fees to play a game with no ending. Period
4) More USB ports would be nice as well as a larger screen. This is where I start to look away from the tiny minibooks. As cute and nice as they are I simply have a little too much media for them. I would prefer multiple USB ports as I currently have the ipod, the external hard drive and my camera to hook up to the current machine. At somepoint somewhere I always end up having to unplug one thing or another. I have yet to hook my phone up to my compy for this reason. One more thing to plug in and one more thing to unplug. I'm also looking to get an ereader in the near future. Real books are becoming more and more unbelievably expensive and this includes paperbacks. The ICPL currently offers ebooks to check out. No late fees and no waiting for books to come back in. Win. So that's one more possible device that I will have to store data on and possibly plug in.
5) Looking for something less than $1000. Yes that rules out a Macbook. As pretty as they are I just can't/won't justify the expense.
Now I know this hasn't narrowed down my options. But I would like some input from other laptop users or people you know who own and can provide feedback on their machines. My HP was a decent machine but it didn't last as long as long as my craptop compaq back in college that ran Windows ME. However, when I did have to mail it back into the company the results were rather astounding. It was gone for exactly one week and came back fixed. So a good warranty package with great tech support would be nice. I've been looking at the Gateway NV series and peaking at the Dell Inspiron 15 or 17. A larger screen would be nice. The Sony Vaio's are nice but out of my price range. Toshiba's have also been coming up high on review lists out there. So really any input on what to get would be great.