WT (Ont, Canada): Need help selecting laptop to buy

[Demon-Seed]

Hello,
Since being out of the industry I am not that much of a techie anymore   I have done some research but thought someone could help.  We are going to have to buy a new home computer soon and we want another laptop. We are looking at a few models and are spinning our heads.  What would you suggest for what we need?

-internet use, downloading torrents, playing movies on utube, preparing office documents, running internet apps like chat etc, dumping our jvc HD home videos (also editing and watching them).

I have read our camera and it recommends a dual core chip with at least 2g of ram or a mac at 1.5 with 1 gig ram.

The question is mac or pc?? many have told me to get a mac and we would love it....... OR is it just too much? the wife wants to spend no more than around 700 but she will budge if its worth it.

I would appreciate anyone who can assist and explain why a certain laptop is worth it.

thanks
Jim

[Malenko]

I dont think Mac makes a computer under $1100 and if they do, you can be sure its the pinto model of macs.

I dont do any video editing, but I hear macs are better for it but Im not even a novice when it comes to that.

[bartre]

well, I just bought a laptop recently myself.
I'm going to heavily recommend against getting a mac, they're usualy 1 1/2 times the price for the equivalent pc.
on top of that, there's a lot of compatibility issues.
as far as requirements, I'd probably say

250-320 GB hard drive.
3-4 GB ram.
a dual or quad core processor(if it's a similar price, go for the quad, it's worth it)

beyond those, it's all preference.
I'm going to recommend you stay away from those real shiny, almost reflective finishes, they get dirty and attract fingerprints really easily.

as far as a good brand, my personal favorite is Toshiba, they've been really reliable in my experience, plus, if the laptop you like happens to still come with vista they'll send you a free copy of windows 7 until like january 15th.
a couple other brands to watch are gateway and, if you're careful, dell.
dell, if you're going to get one of those, try to make sure it's not one of their inspiron series, i've seen no end of problems with those.

good luck!

[Demon-Seed]

Hello
Yes macs are pricey,  you can get one here under $1000.

I have heard Toshiba is one of the best for the money as I was looking at those vs. a similar samsung model.  I would NEVER buy a dell again! We have one now and it has had nothing but heat problems... sucks ass.

I appreciate the feedback..... keep it coming it is helpful.  Also anyone recommend what software to use for a novice? I also should have mentioned we will be editing HD video. Not major editing, just want to add text, music and combine clips.

thanks
Jim