Good morning everyone. I have been considering buying a laptop for some time. I bought one years ago and took it back. Just felt awkward. I love my desktop but I need more space on my desk....so laptop it is. BUT I love a full keyboard. So I want a laptop that has the closest size to a full size desktop style keypad. The only thing I would use it for is internet and my kodak software.
So I ask the people who know more than I do about computers. Please help. I don't want to spend too much. Roughly would like to keep it under $500 if possible.
Help :-)

Watch the paper for a sale try to get a dell. I don't know why but they seem to be the best computer out there. My ex who's a computer weinnie highly recommends the dell.

I love my Sony Vaio.

The thing I never liked about laptop computers is the touch pad you use as a mouse. So when I got my new Dell laptop I also ordered a wireless mouse to use with it. I love it.

I got a refurbished Thinkpad on Ebay for $160, included shipping, it has been working great. There are a lot of good bargains on ebay, be sure you buy from someone who is in the business of selling re-furbished computers, not someone who is just selling their own personal one.


Some friends just had to replace their 3 year old HP laptop, it just died. Apparently they have a flaw that overheats the board. So brand new does not guarantee that you will have no problems.

Just checked ebay, the seller I got mine from has more of the same, now for $120!!

Link
http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Lenovo-Think...item3a630cd152

thanks...but that one doesn't look like it is compatible with my Mifi internet. And I have concerns about the 40 mb instead of the one I was looking at that has 3 GB. Ugh. I get so confused :-(

I bought a hybrid from Dell love it has the full keyboard and is only the size of a large book for the hard drive.

I have a Toshiba that I bought at Office Depot. It has a 17" screen and when you type the keyboard lights up. I love that because when I'm taking my embroidery software classes and they turn the lights out (for the projector screen) I can still see what I'm doing. It has a full keyboard. They do go on sale about every three weeks. They also have a MSI brand that is the same as the Toshiba that I bought, just doesn't have the light up keyboard.

I guess it depends what you use it for. I have 40GB like the one for sale, it is plenty. And I keep a LOT of photos on it. Not even half full yet. But I don't play online games or anything like that, I know they need a lot of space for that stuff.

I did a lot of learning when I was looking to buy this one. Here is some of what I learned.

The 40 GB is the size of the hard drive. This is storage. Now you can get one with 1000GB if you want to pay for it.

The 512 MB is RAM - Random access memory - determines how many programs you can have going at once.

The 1.8 GHz is the speed. Again, this is slow compared to top of the line today, but plenty good enough for my needs.