GearHead_1
Long Time Member
I have no doubt you can accomplish your objective. It all comes down to the processor and the amount of RAM you choose. If you're willing to settle for a little less speed on the processor you can get many of the other bells and whistles without the price going through the roof. Look for a step or two below the top of the line fastest chip. Don't settle for less than a Gig of memory, many come with 512 and you can get by with it but extra memory is something that just about every application loves. AMD chips seam to be slightly less expensive than Intel chips right now and in the long run most don't know which they're running anyway. I have recently purchased both a Dell and Toshiba laptop both similarly configured and roughly in the same price range. I have zero complaints with either machine (the keyboard went bad on the Dell but they sent me a new one quickly and without problem under warranty) but I believe I like the Toshiba a little better. The extra software that came with the Toshiba was a ton better than Dell's but most of that stuff can be downloaded free anyway. The Toshiba is a little bigger and slightly less portable than the Dell, both have 15 inch screens. I know that this probably gives you no real advantage having read this but I believe you wouldn't go wrong with either of these two manufacturers.
