Okay. So I have a Laptop that's about 4 years old or so. Dell Inspiron 6000. It recently crashed and I had to wipe the hard drive and start over. I have the min. on this laptop right now literally.

With Graduate school being less than a year away I'm trying to figure out what's best for organization and convenience.

My options are to A: Keep the one I have and just add and upgrade the hell out of it or B: Get a new one and start all over.

The current one is a little touchy, and some of the keys don't always work, like the h and the c and the n at times, I have to push really hard and actually kind of abuse them to get it to start working properly. Also the speakers don't work without headphones in.

Otherwise this laptop still functions.

I know absolutely NOTHING about laptops or software so this is why I'm posting this thread.

I NEED YOUR HELP!

* Music is almost number 1 in importance. I keep a lot of music on my computer.
*I download music and watch a lot of movies on my laptop. My laptop is my TV basically.
*I am a sucker for organization
* I'm a writer, and on top of that I'll be doing tons of work for Thesis and Disrtatn via laptop. So document organization and writing software is important.
* I'm a photo whore, I keep pictures on my computer.
* I use a lot of language software like Rosetta stone and such.
* Webcam is important since I'll be long distance from my family.
* I will be carrying this thing EVERYWHERE


So... with that little bit of information about my laptop habits... I need suggestions and advice on laptops or software to add to the one I have now (New one is pref. since this one is being picky with which keys it lets me use, plus the speakers are bust).

I know that at least ONE of you out there knows more about this stuff than I do. H-E-L-P!

Oh, and please keep money in mind when you're making suggestions. I'm a college student, let's remember.

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"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss

"There is no opinion worth burning your neighbor for" ~ Voltaire

Not sure if you're a PC or Apple mac gal.. Having said that, Apple iBook laptops might be what you're looking for. More media savvy and software built/customized over the counter. Plus, Apple warranties and extended service plans rock. They do not outsource their client services unlike Dell from hell and other 3rd party PC firms. All north american based. Based on what you said, a big harddrive and high level processor. Create/configure your own apple online and order direct or drop by any apple store and see demos. Might want to send this thread to taitai. She seems the resident apple mac expert.

Apple - Mac

Get a mac, they're lighter then the regular laptops you find out there and now they're making them with intel. So it's all good. I love mine.

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Mac, huh? How do they hold up? My laptop is only 4 years old and it's already grumpy. I'm hoping to have this next laptop for at least the 7 years of gradschool that twinkle before me.

Also... best Anti-virus software? Anyone?

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"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss

"There is no opinion worth burning your neighbor for" ~ Voltaire

Mac's don't really need anti virus software. There are very little viruses known to the mac computer. It could last you longer than years, depending on what you are going to do with it. After using a mac, I am never going back to PC.

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Here's a couple of things to think about...

What OS does your current software run on?
Will you have a problem getting new software for a different platform?
How difficult will it be to get support for the Mac if you have issues?

I think there is a price premium if you choose to go the way of the Mac.

I am an avid supporter of Bit-Defender Internet Security Antivirus software - BitDefender - The future of security now!

Have fun shopping!

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"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children."

It sounds like what you need is an Apple MacBook. (not iBook, they are outdated, remember MACBOOK)

It's perfect for photos and music, and there is an in-built camera. Thought I'm not sure about those language softwares...

Oh I can tell you this, your 4 yr old Dell is not going to last you for another 7 years. It'll probably end up crashing again and you'll lose your thesis/writing/work etc.

Better to spend a bit more money now to save you from the headaches later.

Here are my thoughts:

Music is important on your laptop and the speakers are busted. This also rules out webcam conversations. Some of the keys are not working and you are going to be doing a lot of typing. And it crashed once already, requiring you to wipe the hard drive. Just these items alone tell me that you would have to replace your laptop. Getting it repaired would probably not be worthwhile when compared to the cost of getting a new computer.

If you still have the operating system disks then you could install the same OS on your new laptop in case compatibility with existing software is an issue.

You could go with a mac but you will be paying a substantial premium in price. Personally I prefer to just stick with plain old pc's. If you need a service plan maybe you can include that in your budget when shopping.

I use AVG antivirus. It is free.

Macs are known for reliability unlike PC's, desktops. You hear stories of macs lasting 10+ yrs, np. Case in point, my brother used the old G4 back in the day for graphic design. It was considered a hot "definite thing to have" item back then. He still has it and now his kids use it. Only replacing was the keyboard which wears out. Hitting 15yrs I think. Never had a major repair. And by the time it does crank out, it's time for a new model anyway.

Macs are more pricey because they do not outsource their products. All client services, manufacturer locations, service centres, are all local within NA. What premium you pay in price is made up for in reliability. Get the Apple Care warranty package, it's worth it esp. if you choose an expensive item to last several years. I have an iPod with them. First time, I had an issue with it not recording or downloading the entire song completely from itunes. Called Apple and was trasferred to escalated tech reps and then directed to the nearest Apple Store. They looked at it and within 15 min they said it was an undocumented bug not yet listed in their database. Solution? Gave me a brand new one, no questions asked, no runaround. Try that with Dell or any PC firm. lol.

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If your worried about OS's with a Mac don't..there's this thing called "Bootcamp" for Macs..which basically let's you install windows on it. THen when your system starts your given the choic ebetween booting windows or the Mac OS. So basically its like the best of both worlds.

If a GPU is important to you I'd get the macbook pro..(Mostly if you enjoy playing any games>) otherwise a good old vanilla macbook would be good. Check out the apple store online they let you customize your mac before you order it!