I get by with a little help from my friends...

[vixalicious]

So I'm considering breaking down and buying a laptop for personal use, mostly because I'm about to break my third laptop in a year and work may start getting annoyed with me soon. Believe it or not, I don't actually know that much about computers - I haven't bought one since 1998. I've always used what the company gave me. I've only ever bought Compaq's, and I was happy enough with them, but they are more expensive.

I don't want to spend much more than $400. I need it to surf the internet, download music/manage iTunes (all music stored on external hard drive), write, IM, & minor photo editing (mostly in the 'rotate and lighten' arenas).

Does anyone know about Acer? ASUS? eMachines? Velocity?

Anyone familiar with Frys: Have you ever bought anything refurbished, and how did that work out?

Those of you with the mini-laptops - do you like them? will they do all the things I want to?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[incoherenteye.livejournal.com]

for that price, you're probably looking at a netbook, which is a mini laptop. HP's have the best. Acers are renowned for quality as well.

[vixalicious]

Yeah, for some reason I have a hard time selling myself on the mini, although I don't know why. On the surface, it seems like such a good idea, but I'm afraid I'd get it and it wouldn't power enough. I'm going to have to think about it.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, it's usually not recommended to just have a mini. It's mostly meant to be portable for travel. Though, my friend just has a mini and she seemed pretty happy with it. My eyes would die after a while. Such small screens!

Still, the problem is if you're only spending 400 dollars on a normal laptop, it's probably not going to last very long.