Steer away from Windows 8 and make sure you can 'WRITE and/OR BURN" to the CD/DVD player. Some laptops just read CD/DVDs...Intel is the best processor and the more RAM you can get the better. It has to do with the speed of the processor. With saving embroidery patterns, I find it best to save them to a portable hard drive like a Passport instead of clogging the laptop with lots of patterns. Good luck in what you choose...