Advice on Laptop Purchase

Hi there,

Looking to purchase a laptop to replace the old one (motherboard gone).
From the recommended questions..


Budget: How much money are you willing to spend on the laptop?

A:Tough one, since I don't want to see it become a dinosaur upon delivery, but don't want to spend a fortune. Willing to think about 650-1150.

Screen: What size screen do you want, and do you need widescreen?

15-17" (17 preferred), widescreen not necessary


Brands: Are there any brands you want or don't want to buy?
Willing to accept advice here. I hear bad things about Acer.

Mobility: How much will you need and how long does the battery need to last?

fair bit of mobility, but within the house mostly. Battery power of 4+ hours would be nice.

Durability: Does this laptop need to be sturdy or durable/semi-durable?
Not really.

Multitasking: Will you be multitasking with this laptop and if so, how much?
most of the time although typically one internet, one processing program (word, excel)

Gaming: Will you be gaming and if so, how much and how new are the games?

Gaming would be limited to strategy games. Civ IV would be a good example. No first person shooter games or anything that demanding on graphics.

Calculations: Will you be doing any intense calculations or multimedia encoding?

Limited to Downloading and burning music/movies.

Storage: How much storage will you need and what will you be storing?
Music and movies would constitute the bulk. Primarily music (although thousands of songs.) No more than 10 movies likely to be stored at once.

Optical Media: Will you need to burn any optical media like CDs or DVDs?
Yes. Both.

Operating System: Do you want Windows XP or Vista, or Linux compatibility?
Windows Vista is most likely.

Location: What country do you live in?
Canada.

Thanks in advance everyone, it really is appreciated. We all have skills (some can fix a car, build a house, write a good resume), I am envious of those who can truly understand computers.