probably music for my ipod, internet, research, schoolwork, not much gaming. probably no gaming.

 

Budget?

 

about a grand.

 

After a quick search, this one looks good to me.
Asus K55VD DS71
Saw a review that says the webcam/microphone aren't great, but I never use mine. I don't know if that would matter to you.

I'm partial to Asus. They tend to have better quality for a reasonable price.

 

i dont really care about them at all. its probably nice to have though. let me look at it too.

 

I just use a net book for school. Small compact , gets the job done

 

wanna recommend a few so i can make a list and find whats best for me?

 

The Sony Vaio line is also good. I think the S series would be good for you, specifically this one: SVS15113FXS

EDIT: This one also has a bluray player.

 

that was the first one i was looking at. i like the 17" screen too.

 

I was looking at 15" screens cause the battery will last longer, it will be lighter and more portable, and it doesn't sound like you'll be doing anything that requires a 17" display.

 

itll be nice to have. anywhere i go ill be able to charge it. school, friends, home, work. im a fan of bigger than 15". i wrote all my papers last year on my gf's 18" laptop...it was sweet.

 

And if I was gonna pick a third option, I'd say the Dell Inspiron 15R
http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15...-7520#TechSpec

It's at the top end of your budget, but it'll be very capable for several years to come. It doesn't have a bluray player built in, but the rest of the tech is top of the line.

 

Gotcha. The key specs for me are
Intel i5 or i7 processor (will let the laptop think faster)
At least 6GB of RAM (Helps with buffering speeds online)
High capacity hard drive (~750GB+)

I have a 17" laptop, and I like it, but it's a pain to carry around. It usually just sits in my living room, so it isn't a problem for me.

And I don't recommend HP to anyone. I have one, and I am not a fan. They add on way too much BS software that slows down the system and takes up space. Some of it even conflicts with the operating system, and I get display errors fairly often.

 

thanks. i think that'll educate me enough to know what to base my choice on.

 

i like this one a lot. ill check out all of them though.