[katsojo]

Which is going to be the better computer? Help?
I'm looking to spend about $850-900 pre-tax.
It's just that I've never had a Lenovo or an HP so I was looking for people that have had these/do have them and might have better insight.
I want something with a good battery life (from reading reviews, it looks like they have similar times). Screen size isn't an issue. I'd like some portability, as I am a student. I have a lot of music and I tend to keep a nice sized photo library which I edit with Photoshop.
I want Vista and an integrated webcam.
My Dell lost key caps within the first few months. 8 months in, the adapter quit. Year and half in, the battery is completely toast as is the adapter. It runs slow and the screen will occasionally go completely black/red/blue/or purple and I have to restart it by the power key.
I don't want to go through this again.

Thanks!

[Flashorn]

Hey katsojo!!



Welcomed to PCWorld Community!



OK, first of all , if you are a student , you might not want a 17.1 " widescreen notebook.

The simple fact is that, this size notebook will weight in at about 8 pounds.They are quite

big to lug around.



Now , if you would like portability , you should be looking at the 15.4 " notebooks

They should be about 6pounds. Allot more manageable and easier to carry .



Have you taken a look at the 14.1 widescreen? This is very portable.

They would be in the range of 5 pounds.



As far as battery life goes, it would all depend on how you use it .

meaning , are you going to do allot of photo editing on the battery.

If so, then your battery will not last to long with ought a charge.



A six cell battery , in my experience with a HP Compac 15.4 widescreen ,

with a dedicated video card , a 100 HDD @ 5400 rpm and 1 GIG of ram

netted me 1 ans 1/2 hours of battery life.

An 8 cell battery with the same notebook got me 2 and 1/2 hours of battery life.



My current notebook which is a 17.1 widescreen HP and dual core Intel with an

8 cell battery saw me go for 2 and 3/4 hours of non stop movie watching.

This is my notebook specs HP dv9834ca



Have you looked at the Toshiba notebooks. Not as expensive as the Lenovo

but. just as good.

I will give you a few examples of the Toshiba and the HP



Toshiba notebook



and the



HP notebook



We have owned HP Compacs and Hp's for the last three years and have never had trouble so far.

My own notebook , which I replaced last week after three years of worry free computing,

started making a clicking noise . I thought it might be the hard drive so I replaced it.

But I still have it opened everyday and has not failed yet.



So, yes, I would certainly recommend either ones that I have linked here for you.



Hope this will help in your quest for the perfect notebook.





FLASHORN.