I work in a situation where everyone has a laptop of their selection. There are Toshibas, HP, Compaq and Acer brand. They all operate well.
Look for the best deal you can find on a name brand that has the best combination of processor speed, hard drive capacity, RAM and a few bells and whistles like burning DVD’s.
I don’t particularly want to promote a store or a brand, but this is one I have been looking at for a few weeks and it actually went up $50 while I have been looking.
You may want to look at the two year warranty also. I don’t usually buy it, but I know two persons that have gotten brand new laptops when they took theirs in for repair so I am strongly looking at that option for my next purchase.
I am not a techie by the way.
I am not familiar with Acer. What do you know about the company?
I usually don't go for extended warranties, but in the case of a laptop computer, I have made exceptions. But there are two important rules to follow: First off, do NOT buy a store warranty. Buy the extended warranty from the manufacturer. In the case of HP and Compaq, you can buy it on-line. I've seen too many people get burned by store warranty nonsense. A friend actually had Best Buy's service department say that her laptop wasn't covered because someone had poured a drink down the keyboard. Well, I was with her when she took it in for service (and I was IBM, HP, Compaq, and Dell laptop warranty authorized at the time) and I knew that it was just a systemboard problem. There was never a drink poured down the keyboard! They kept the laptop for more than a month, and then sent it back, unrepaired. We had to threaten small claims court to get them to honor the warranty.
Secondly, give serious consideration to the accidental damage warranty. I know of two people who have accidentally dropped their latops off of their laps, and it's usually cheaper to buy a new laptop than replace the display, both of which cracked.
Mark