I need to upgrade my crashed laptop

My Dell laptop has crashed, for the 3rd time! I have replaced the motherboard everytime. I'm sick of it! The computer

is 5 years old and has done me well, other than the crashes. My warranty has expired, so this time it will cost me

$200 to replace the motherboard. I figure it's time to upgrade. I know that laptops aren't the best thing for editing, but

i move around too much, and i have to have one. I need some advice on what to get.

Here is a little breakdown on what i have/need; traditionally i have used Dell, i need at least 2gb of RAM, i have been

running CS2 but i'm sure will eventually upgrade, i have been told to get a dual processor, hard drive size doesn't

matter, i use external to not slow down the laptop, i think a 15" LCD should do, pricing around $1000

I think that is pretty much it. I have traditionally used Dell, but i am open to new things.

Thanks in advance

Look at HP DV series. Recently picked up a HP DV6984se, which has T5750 Intel Duo, 250 gb and 4 meg of ram for $750.

This is the special edition with 15.4 screen.

Lenovo (IBM) makes high quality laptops that seem to suffer fewer hardware failures than other companies.

In case anyone else reading this thread is interested, the Lenovo W700 is very very nice, but also very very expensive.

Lenovo anything. They make a toughbook for service people and military. Not elegant, but will take some banging around. Whether you can calibrate the screen is a question.

Now is when you get the Mac. Get a nice case for it so it stays dry and does not get hit around. Just my opinion and I do not want to get a discussion going on Vista OS and Leopard.

At that price of $1k you're going to have problems. That's the difference between a $1k and $2k notebook, in

a $1k notebook they use cheaper components and cheaper manufacturing facilities potential increase in mean time

between failures. <br>

In the last 10 years, I've used/had a: <br>

Compaq - heavy <br>

Gateway - total crap <br>

IBM T21 and 22 - good and durable <br>

Dell D600 - problematic <br>

Apple 12" Powerbook - saw the world, hard disk crashed twice (dropped it one with the power on)- Apple didn't

replace the harddisk the first time out of warranty the second time. My fault for not pushing the harddisk. <br>

IBM T42 - best Linux/Windows laptop made - durable <br>

Lenovo - T60 first batch made by Lenovo durable traveled frequently with it, but had some bios/driver quirks <br>

MacBook Pro 15" - no comments yet. <br>

<br>

If you want something durable get a Lenovo or an Apple. If you just want something get another dell. If it's

my money I'd buy an apple. <br>

I'd second the Apple but a new one is outside your budget of $1000. They are pretty tough and the battery life is longer

than any other laptop I've ever used. If you do decide you want to come over to the 'right' side however, dont (ever) buy

extra RAM from Apple - way too expensive. Buy it yourself and install it yourself.

And they make you look cool and hip. :-)

I'd check Fry Electronics if there is one within 50 miles or so, if not check their website.

Just bought an HP Laptop from them with a 20" screen and love it.

It cost me $1559, and Ive been using Toshiba Laptops for almost ten years and really like them. Only reason I changed to the HP was for the larger screen. Frys carries both brands in various sizes and combination's of setups. This has a 350 gig drive and 4 gigs of memory, and it is FAST. Time is of the essence with me, at 78 year don't want to wast any waiting for a computer to do anything. :-)