Looking to buy a laptop (PC not mac)

[Linas]

I am looking to buy a PC laptop. So please, save your breath mac people. What would be a good laptop to buy at no more than $800. I need this to run basic school stuff, adobe photoshop, and do some basic music recording. I am fine with buying refurbished gear, i just dont really know what to look for. I dont know what any of the numbers mean in terms of specs, except for usually higher is better. Can anyone help me out? THANKS!

[IAmTheDood]

while i hate to say it at that price range look at HP. Best buy has as lot of HP's at that price range. Just be careful with it if you buy it, I've been through 3 in the last 5 years due to abuse to 'em .. I've had a gateway for the last year and a half that has been absolutely flawless, i paid about $1400 for it last summer.

[bluestarbass]

I bought a sony a few years ago for recording and graphic design. I really really like it. Id def look hard at the sonys, but i think mine was like 1800 when i bought it new. Check on ebay for like the best laptop from last year. Lots of people are eager to buy the newest best thing, then take a huge bath on ebay when they sell it 9 months later to buy the next best thing.

[Eric Perry]

I know I'm in the minority, but I really like Gateway laptops.

[Tsal]

I've heard that these one's are pretty good:



Sorry, couldn't resist

[jkritchey]

I prefer Dell's business Latitude line from the Dell Outlet. Latitude 630 is 14", 830 is 15". I bought a 12" Lat. D410 for less than $500. Love it. Shop careffully, get a minimum of a GB or RAM, a 7200 RPM Hard drive (hard to find on the 630) and you can often still find one with Win XP on it, if you want.

Not as much of a fan of the Inspiron lines for home use.

http://www.dell.com/content/products...=28&l=en&s=dfb

[Philbiker]

I've recently had good the "outlet store" at http://www.fpc.fujitsu.com/Consumer.php