i have to buy a new laptop and would appreciate some viewpoints

[left is right]

My needs are few: it must run Office07 efficiently and be in the 15 inch range.
My wants are a little more numerous but not by much. I am not a game player but like an occasional game of spider, free-cell, or Mah Jong. I would love a numeric keypad but would like to keep it in the $650-700 range so that isn't very likely. I would like built in speaker, as I hate headphones. Cable modem compatible and good battery life
In the last five years I have had two different deals. Both died for no apparent reasons. I am reasonably sure they didn't die from viruses. Both had power/power cord issues. So I am not sure about wanting a new Dell
I am currently borrowing a VAIO and it has keyboard issue--I will be keying along and suddenly I am either back at the beginning or the cursor is just gone. It is also spongy, struck keys don't always appear on the screen

What would you recommend? What laptop makes you happy?

[david13]

1. I have a Toshiba Qosmio which I like. dc

[Warpy]

2. I've had a Toshiba that I didn't like

and an HP that is better. Best thing to do is go into a store and play with them, find out what you like.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. We have first hand experience with Sonys, HPs and Toshibas .......

...... and have now switched entirely to Macs. But I can tell you the Sonys were nothing but headaches. We had three of them. None lasted more than two years before the hardware started acting up. The HPs (we had two) were okay but also had hardware issues. The two Toshibas lived forever. In fact, both still live. My partner is using my very old one (now maybe 8 years old?) as her only Windows machine; she chooses not to have Windows on her Macs. The other one, maybe four years old, still works perfectly with absolutely zero problems. It now serves duty connected to our teevee for streaming movies from Netflix and such.

Both Toshibas had extended keyboards with numeric keypads. Both had 17" monitors. Having the extended keyboards and big screens, both were on the heavy side. I am not sure, but I seem to recall both were in the $1500 range.

[CK_John]

4. Prior post on this subject.

I no longer think there is any quality difference between brands. The components are made from

hundreds of back alley plants, interchangeable parts. Laptops have become an appliance. Good for about 2yrs maybe 3yrs, on parts and software.

Especially since HP has begun to ship 3.0 USB. Now more and more parts will become external devices. The laptop itself will be a shell.

Unless you need mission critical, like to run a nuke plant, buy the cheapest laptop and a used 60 GB sata hard drive for backup, also device that comes with cloning software(Vista ready). A 60GB drive will normal be big enough.

[Gore1FL]

5. I look for three things:

FSB Speed: at least 800 Mhz (note this is FSB, not overall speed)
L2 Cache: at least 2 MB, more is always better
Memory: at least 2 GB, 4 is best (assuming you are running 32 bit-as it can only address about 3.5 or it)