Buying a computer

I'm not sure that this is the right board to be posting this on, so let me know if it's not.

I don't know too much about computers so I'm looking for suggestions on buying a new laptop. I've had a dell (Inspiron 600), laptop for over 3 years now, and I feel like it's time for a new one (also my fan is broken and the battery is almost dead, so rather than replacing both of those, I figured I might as well get a new one). I'm not looking for anything too fancy. As long as I can do my schoolwork, download music, store pictures, etc., that should be fine. I'm looking to spend anything less than $2000 on one.

I've been fairly happy with the service from dell, but as for the computer, my hard drive has broken 2 times in the 3 years that I've had it, and also, I had a problem with my keyboard a while ago, and now the fan is broken, so I'm wondering if it's normal that I should be having so many problems?

So if anyone has any ideas on what kind of computer I should be looking for I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

 

If this is all you want to do and your going to spend $2000, You will have no problems! My notebook cost £400 ($800). And although its no good for gaming, its great for office/school stuff, downloading and playing music/videos, messing about on line, and editing photos etc.

I wont suggest anything to you as Im not experienced enough, I just wanted to say youve got enough money for a really decent machine there.

 

CyberPower makes good laptops but be aware that there are no laptops that I'm aware of yet that have a DX10 video card in them.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/r05/ri05.asp

 

I have a Gateway MX6450 that would be great for all the things you wish to do. Here is a link http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/Blade/5959nv.shtml It cost under $1000, and you can upgrade the RAM to 2Gigs if you wish. The HD is a nice size and I love the AMD Turion64, so much so I just got another laptop with the 64x2. Gateway have a great one year full warranty too, so if anything goes wrong, as it did with my HD, you are fully covered and they turn it around very quickly, within a week. A company who is prepared to give a year's warranty obviously has a lot of faith in the quality of it's product....many don't. Happy hunting!

 

You might want to look on eBay, though it's buyer beware. I bought a Gateway 1150 from there for 125, and apart from having to buy a powersupply and a bad touchpad button, it works fantastic for the same uses. Just take care not to get one without a hard drive, that's very annoying.

 

Sorry you are having so much trouble with your computer. My little Dell Inspiron 600m has been faithfully folding for 2 years or more, and still works well for me.

If you are just looking for a good laptop, I think you can find one on Newegg.com for a little less than a grand that should do what you want it to do.

Or hey, how bout a Dell dual core for less than a grand... http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_e1705?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

That has to kill a little inspiron 600...

E