<p>My current HP laptop is a complete POS, so I'm looking to buy a new one. What brand is reliable nowadays other than Apple (their nice but too expensive and overpriced imo)? Not looking to spend too much, but definitely not too little either, especially after all the problems with this HP. I'm thinking ~$700-800?</p>
<p>sony vaio is a good laptop. my son has one- no problems in 2 yrs.</p>
<p>[Newegg.com</a> - PCs & Laptops, Laptops / Notebooks, Sony VAIO, $750 - $1000](<a href=“Are you a human?”>Are you a human?)</p>
<p>I bought an Asus at the end of 2010 when my gateway crashed and burned lol. My friend who’s really knowledgeable about computers and technology recommended Asus to me. I really like this laptop bc it has something called IceCool technology and it keeps the laptop from getting really hot. Overheating was my main issue with gateway so I’m glad this one stays cool. It’s also reasonably priced and yeea hope this helps lol</p>
<p>Never get HP, they suck. My HP laptop died on me. Toshiba is high quality stuff.
I have an Acer laptop–cheap but has good stuff.</p>
<p>I really really like lenovo laptops.</p>
<p>I have a Toshiba :]
It originally cost 800 but I bought it slightly used for 500. At the time it was made it was the lightest PC I think…</p>
<p>Weight was very important to me. Before I had a very heavy Toshiba and now I can take my laptop to class and lectures. I love my laptop.</p>
<p>Ive seen Acers, Toshiba’s, Dells and HP’s all hit the dust. Out of that whole list though, I think the Dell lasted the longest (4 years?). It was my brothers, however, I finally convinced him to come join the dark side with me. Macs FTW! I know you’re not interested in Macs, but I’ll be honest, I really haven’t had any issues with mine and I’ve had it for just about two years now…The price tag is definitely worth not having to deal with the BS I’ve encountered by using a normal PC before my Mac days. Macs are great if you’re an artsy person and want to edit pictures and movies and what not, but if you’re a gamer at all, most people would argue that a PC is the way to go. There is also the issue with a Mac that, once you own one, its not very friendly with PC type of things. (Many programs, mp3 players, etc)…</p>
<p>Get a real computer, not a Mac. </p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-D710 using CC</p>
<p>^ Get bootcamp and run windows on your mac, problem solved. </p>
<p>I would look at what Asus has in your price range, good stuff, and I’ve always had good experiences with their support. I own a mac now and I’m happy with it, but it’s out of your price range.</p>
<p>I know you said Macs are too expensive, but the Macbook Air starts at $999. Maybe consider waiting and try to scrounge up a few hundred more dollars and get a Mac. Or maybe consider a refurbished one? I’ve been in your position and all I can say is it’s worth having a Mac. I avoided them too because of the price, but finally got one in 2008 when the solid aluminum body ones came out during a huge Thanksgiving sale (I saved $500 on a 15’’ Macbook Pro). All I can say is, I’ll never go back to using a PC… EVER. The closest I’ll get is through VMware Fusion on my Mac. 
In four years I haven’t had any problems and have never had worry about malware, trojan horses, PC viruses. The overall functionality and reliability is completely worth it and you actually get quality hardware. OSX Lion >>>>>>>>>>> Windows 7. If you can find a way to get a Mac just do it and you won’t look back. There’s a reason why it’s insanely disproportionate in the amount of people that switch from Mac to PC and why Apple is the one company that has been consistently made giant gains market share in computers for the last decade.</p>
<p>Macbooks are high quality stuff, but not everyone has the money nor believe they should spend that much on a laptop.</p>
<p>Macbook Air = $1000.
Doesn’t have a CD-drive, barely any USB ports, just one I believe; and etc. Very inconvenient.</p>
<p>And all you need is a good anti-virus program, don’t download everything you see, and to not visit any shady website’s and you won’t have a problem with virus, spyware, and etc.</p>
<p>Seriously though, Asus, Lenovo (seriously great computers here), some Vaios however they can get fairly pricey. </p>
<p>I’ve had my current vaio since 2008(?) my dell desktop since 2001. Both are still kicking strong. However I’d highly suggest against Dell laptops…</p>
<p>I have an Acer Aspire laptop. Intel Core i5 and Nvidia GT 540M dedicated graphics card for $600. Not bad for a mid-level gaming laptop.</p>
<p>I don’t play games or do anything fancy. If you just need a solid laptop then get a Toshiba. Like lawlking said, just make sure you get virus protection and you should be good. I use my laptop to go on the internet, watch Netflix, write papers, and go on Skype. That is all I need and it is what it does. Done.</p>
<p>Also, like I said, it is fairly light and thin. I compared it to my bf’s Mac and it is the same weight if not lighter. It is black and looks sleek to me.</p>
<p>Jason, you never specified what you intend to do with your new laptop.</p>
<p>If it’s just word processing/emails/browsing the Web, there are solid laptops for $350.</p>
<p>There’s no reason a laptop should break down unless you go to sketchy websites (i.e., pr0n). I know it’s just one case, but my mom’s been using the same IBM stinkpad for twelve years.</p>
<p>And please don’t buy a Mac if you’re on any sort of budget. They pride themselves on giving you the least bang for your buck.</p>
<p>on black friday I bought an HP laptop for 250. It’s not the best but it’s decent. it has windows 7 and 270 gb or whatever those are called. I hope it doesn’t die on me like you guys have said though lol. I did buy a good virus program, kasperky, so maybe you guys didn’t have a good anti virus program and thats why your computers died.</p>
<p>but my best advice is buy one on black friday! i got mine at walmart and it was like the best deal ever, the lines weren’t too bad or anything and I got there at 7:30pm. The laptops were distributed at 12:00am. i mean where can you get a brand new lap top with a webcam and all the other goodies i mentioned for 250?! thats like unheard of!</p>
<p>@lawlking
The Macbook Air, actually has two usb ports. I’m not really sure how many more the average person needs? And cd-rom drives are quickly becoming obsolete. Movies, music, and software, which are what you’d traditionally need a cd-rom drive for are all available in downloadable formats online. Honestly, think of the last time you actually bought an audio cd? For myself it was years ago. If you have an iPod, smart phone, tablet pc, or any other type of portable media player your media largely comes from online. Also with the popularity of cloud computing cd-roms are also being made obsolete as physical transient intermediates for documents and media. Imo, it’s about as necessary to have a cd-rom drive these days as it is to have a VHS player. And if you desperately need one you can find a Macbook Air Superdrive for < $50 on ebay. Anyway, it’s all beside the point because I think the biggest reason to buy an Mac is because of the operating system. I mean look how crappy Vista was and how many things Microsoft ripped off of OSX Leopard, just to make their os serviceable? Call me biased, but in the long run I think dishing out 20-30% percent more on a Mac is a much better investment and that’s after years of owning PCs (I’ve had an HP desktop computer and a Dell Inspiron and Sony Vaio).</p>
<p>If you’re really not interested in a Mac (they do have a student discount, btw), you might check into a Dell. My mom has had her Dell for about 5 years or so and she hasn’t had any problems with it, plus they’re not that expensive.</p>
<p>@Diplated. I actually still use my CD drive for watching DVDs, downloading programs, and WAYYYYYY quicker install than through the internet. </p>
<p>Windows 7 works just fine as long as people don’t do anything to f’ it up by doing stupid things to get viruses and etc. When it comes to investment, buying a Macbook and to use it far below it’s intended usage is a horrible investment.</p>
<p>Loving the Mac vs. PC debates on this forum. Lol</p>