There wasn't much on here in that way from the last few years, but I know I'll get some worthwhile opinions here.

I'm about to buy another computer. A laptop to replace the one that got stolen awhile back. I've been using a 4 or 5 year old Dell for the past few months and I want to smash it into pieces, so I'm sort of ruling them out of the equation. Anyway, here's some rough specs I'm looking for:

Under $1500 (preferably well under)
4 GB RAM
250+ GB hard drive
between 13" and 15" screen
good keyboard (in both comfortability and typability)
doesn't overheat

I'm going to be using it mostly for grad school, which I start at the end of the month, so it'll be running a variety of programs. I'll also use it for watching movies, stealing music, and posting more questions like this. I don't play games on it, and speakers aren't a big deal, since I already own some good ones.

At present, I'm stuck between the Vaio VGN-Cs215J/W and the Toshiba E105-S1402. I'm also looking at Gateways, since my last laptop was one and always treated me right. Except for getting stolen, of course. HP products have given me a lot of shit in the past, so those are doubtful, too.

I don't want a Mac.

Any suggestions/condemnations/recommendations? Also, computer companies need to come up with a better way of naming their products.

I have a lenovo sl-300, bought it in december last year. it's 13" and black, very classic design. I used to have a toshiba, for more than 8 years, and that one was great, no problems at all.
as I realized, toshiba now focuses on young computer game nerds, the design is awful.
the sony things are like macs for windows. good quality altogether but expensive.

Stay the fuck away from Dell and HP/HP-owned companies.

Why don't you want a mac?

As a lifelong PC user i got a mac about 6 months ago and there's no way in hell I'm ever going back.

save up and get a Mac.

an ibook really works well. . . but, for pcs, i've used a lenovo before and it's worked well for me without any real issues. maybe find one that's six months or a year old to save some dough and get something a little better than you could afford new??

. . . i'll admit it's been a while since i've used a pc though with the exception of the crappy dell i got for free. . . *don't* get one of those.

I've had Toshiba, a couple Dells and now a Mac and I will say that for durability, you can't beat Toshiba. They build some tough shit.

The Toshiba's at the office have been pieces of shit. 3 of them have died within the year.

I had an Acer which lasted me about 15 months and the power blew out on it and fried the motherboard.

The IBM and HP's at the office have been awesome. I also like my Compaq at home, but it was on the cheap side and about half of your specs, but also only $400.

I use a Toshiba Satellite for work and really love it.

For a number of reasons, I do not want a mac.

I like the raised keyboard on the Sony, but I feel like I want more memory than 250 GB. I can't imagine the difference between the processors being tooich trouble.

Thanks for the advice!

what programs are you running on this windblows box?

I'd be wary of Sony. I had a Vaio a few years ago whose motherboard died two months after I got it. It was fixed for free but never worked quite the same afterwards though it still worked for another 2.5 years before eventually dying altogether last fall. At the very least, be sure to read up on your model to check for battery life/heat (mine got very hot), motherboard issues and screens (my friend's Vaio had a screen die on him).

I bought a Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 a month ago off Amazon for about $730 and it has most of what you want - 250 GB HDD, 15.4" screen, 3 GB instead of 4 though, good battery life. The keyboard is laid out slightly differently and takes some getting used to, but I've been pretty happy, especially after reading this article.

In any case, this is the computer I bought, but it looks like more RAM is available for a little bit more: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-15 ... 397&sr=8-1

is sony still tied to that stupid memory stick?

I think so. My new laptop has a 6-in-1 memory stick reader which I love.

The funny thing is, you don't even need to save up. Minus the HD space requirements, I got 2 refurbed macbooks with 120 G HDs and everything else you need, including copies of iLife and Office 09 for 1200 bucks in January.

You know, or you can get a vastly inferior machine for more money. Take your pick.

Do Macs still use a 1 button mouse? hahaha

Why don't you start recommending desktop machines? reading comprehension FAIL.

list them, i'm very curious.

I've got a Vaio desktop that hasn't given me any problems and it's probably approaching five years old now. Recently got a mac laptop (first laptop i've had)

If your grad school program 'requires' a pc then there's not much wiggle room that you have. But macs can be sweet. I'm leaning towards a dell mini 10 for the wife but I've found the lenovos to be surprisingly rugged.

Of course if it were me, I'd fight it and/or have enrolled somewhere else

Of course, I think I am probably the only person on here who's family has never even owned a windows-based machine.

The IT guys at the Law school told me that the amount of mac laptops in the student body has risen from less than 5% to 30% in 2 years. They expect next year's class to be close to 40%.

-my advisor mentioned that windows is better for my program than macs. and I busted my ass to get into this program, so I'm not going Dave's route, nor will I buck the advice of my advisor when the bulk of my work will be done online.
-believe it or not, I've had horrible experiences with macs. One crashed at my old job and it was a massive problem that set back a major project for some time.
-It's a personal preference, mostly. I don't like the setup. I've worked on them for a couple years, and I still find it awkward. I'm not wild about the prospect of Vista, mind you, but I still like it better than OSX. Yes, everyone can tell me that OSX is the better system, but like I said, it's personal preference.
-The benefits don't justify the extra cost to me.