Laptop shopping for the holidays

We are replacing a desktop computer and want to buy a laptop. It will primarily be used by our son for email, Internet, music and watching DVDs. In one year he will take it to college, so I want it to be not too big and heavy.
I have read many reviews about TOSHIBA PA3785U-1BRS i3, i5 and i7 processors, AMD processors, Bluetooth DVD drives, HDMI ports and all of this is sort of meaningless to me. Some people say Sony for sure.
Some say, “No, it is the brand name and it drives up the price, go with HP.” Some say Toshiba. Some say Lenovo.
I say help! I want to Lenovo Thinkpad T61 Battery spend between $600 and $700 and would ideally want to buy TOSHIBA PA3534U-1BRS it from somewhere that I could have tech support.
Any suggestions or places to point me in the right direction? Please help, and soon before Santa comes. — Anne Kilgore.
For between $600 and $700, you can get a lot of Toshiba Satellite R630 Battery laptop, but you’ll immediately have to write off an Apple Macbook, which is normally what I would recommend for college students if you had the money.
But PC laptops are typically cheaper than TOSHIBA PA3929U-1BRS Battery Macbooks with the same horsepower. First, I would take a look at Dell. Their prices are very good, and they have a nice range of configurations. I’ve had a couple of Dell computers, and they’ve TOSHIBA Portege R705 Battery performed well over the years.
Toshiba and Lenovo (IBM’s brand) are also two good companies that produce fine laptops. Your friend who mentioned the cost of a Sony laptop is mostly right. Sony does tend to be a little TOSHIBA Portege R700 Battery more expensive than other brands — that certainly is the case with their televisions.
The fact is that all of the components inside a Lenovo IdeaPad U350 Battery computer — the Intel processors, the graphics cards, RAM, etc. — are made by the same manufacturers. They’re just assembled by different companies. The internal electronics are the same, so they should be fairly comparable in performance, especially at that price range. Unfortunately, you’re going to have pros and cons with any company that sells them, making it Lenovo 57Y6265 Battery hard to choose favorites.
As for what kind of configuration, my 57Y6352 pat answer is to purchase the fastest computer you can afford, especially when it comes to laptops. You can’t upgrade them like desktops, except for the system RAM, so you want your laptop to last as long as Lenovo L09C4P01 Battery possible before it becomes obsolete. I would suggest getting an Intel i3 processor or faster with at least 4 gigabytes of RAM. Hard drive storage is less of an issue since you’re probably talking about mostly storing college papers, a few Compaq Mini CQ10 Battery games, and plenty of photos and songs. But I would recommend at least a 500 gigabyte hard drive, which has become standard now in most configurations.
For portability, go with a laptop with a screen size of 14 inches or smaller. That will make it easier to carry in a backpack, reduce the weight and lengthen the battery life.
Normally, I recommend that you purchase the computer online for the best prices. But if you insist on buying it at a brick-and-mortar store, I highly recommend Costco. They may not have the best selection of laptops, but they do have the best return policy and customer service of any store in the country.