Help me choose a new laptop!

I'm currently on a very capable but aging laptop (Toshiba Satellite with dual 1.73GHz Intel processors, 4GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Win Vista, etc)...but, it's nearly 5 years old and things keep dying on it (battery, hard drive, charger, now it has a weird thing where if you bump the table it's on hard enough, it'll shut the computer down...loose wire somewhere I'm guessing).

So, I'm thinking of picking up another laptop and selling this one while it's still worth a couple hundred bucks.

I mostly do internet, watch lots of movies on it and photoshop (some of my stitch files are massive, 500 MB+)

What processor should I look for? Dual core? Single? Brands to avoid? Look for? (I'm thinking of a Toshiba with 4GB of RAM) but can't decide whether to go with a single core i3 or a dual core Athalon, etc...HELP ME

Thanks,
Tamas

i5 or faster is what I got. I just bought a 17 inch HP Pavilion dv7 from Costco with 6GB RAM, 2.4 GHz and 640 HDD, W7 for under $800. It's a great machine, very fast. I do internet, itunes and PS like crazy, but I have 10+ external hard drives for work. I also have a 27 inch Samsung monitor attached and those two screens are what I use for editing. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, wait until the "After Christmas" specials next week.

Thanks...yeah, I found a quad core AMD powered HP w/ 4GB RAM, W7 64 bit, blu ray player, etc for 499...tempting haha...but I've heard nothing but good things about the i-core series...

I think an i7 is way out of my price range, but really considering an i5 machine (for those after Xmas sales, as you mentioned)...I'm really digging the cheesily-named "Turbo Boost" feature of those processors...seems like it's the perfect balance between overclocking and not...

Thanks for your input...anyone else?

Suzy: I also meant to ask you...what did you have before? My problem is that I'm wondering if a 2.4-2.6GHz i5 would actually be slower than my dual 1.73s?

LowriderS10 wrote in post #11510622
Suzy: I also meant to ask you...what did you have before? My problem is that I'm wondering if a 2.4-2.6GHz i5 would actually be slower than my dual 1.73s?

i just got an inspiron 15r with an i5 processor. havent had time to really test it out but its a pretty nice rig for the price, just shy of 800.

Any reason why you're not considering a desktop for the new machine. You have a capable machine for travel, why not put money towards a desktop. You'll get more horsepower for your money.

DvMrgn: Congrats, I'm just a little envious Let me know how it works out once you get to put it through its paces!

ender: Yeah, I don't stay put very long...I move around a ton and travel quite a bit (I'm most likely looking at moving to Europe or Asia within a few months). My laptop is my computer, TV and DVD player all in one incredibly small package. I can't see a desktop fitting my lifestyle anytime soon

good place to do research

http://reviews.cnet.co​m …erColumnArea1.0​;buyAdvice

I had a Dell 17 inch, around 2.2 GHz. It's over 3 years old and had the Duo Core processor. The new computer works much faster, even after cleaning the old one up.