Hi, everybody. Well, since the time for Christmas deals is almost up I've been contemplating buying a new laptop, and I need some advice in terms of what brand and model of laptop to consider. Currently I'm a freshman college student who double majors in music performance and history, so a laptop that has a good sound system is a must (I've had laptops in the past that aren't loud enough, or laptops that cause the sound to become distorted at higher volumes). I also play games from time-to-time (a few hours per week), so I need a system that will be able to handle games like TF2 and CoD (I won't be playing anything more intense than these two).
In the past I've used Dell's XPS M1530 and M1730 models, and an HP dv6z select edition notebook, all of which were decked out with the best possible graphics/sound/processor/hard drive that the company offered at the time (I puchased the Dell laptops around 3 years ago; the HP was about six months ago), as well as a Macbook Pro which I did not like for many reasons (i.e. several of my music programs are only for Windows, and I don't want to buy a Mac and use Windows on it; I did not like the keyboard design; I hate the word processing; etc.).
I'm willing to spend a maximum of $4,000, but I doubt that a good laptop that'll handle my needs will cost that much. I checked out the upgraded version of my Dell XPS (a new version just came out a few weeks ago, I guess), and that came to about $2,300 with all the best components. However, I've had problems with Dell computers in the past, as they historically do not last for more than two years (there have been exceptions), and have freezing/lag issues for no reason, even on brand new computers. Similarly, I did not like my HP laptop very much, as the screen resolution was lower than the laptop that I used in 7th grade, despite being almost $3,000, and the mouse seemed impossible to use. I ended up returning many of these laptops, and only used the M1530 for the past three years.
People have told me to try Asus laptops, but I don't know anything about those. I went on the Asus website and found so many laptops that I didn't even know where to start...
Any help that you guys could give me with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
In the past I've used Dell's XPS M1530 and M1730 models, and an HP dv6z select edition notebook, all of which were decked out with the best possible graphics/sound/processor/hard drive that the company offered at the time (I puchased the Dell laptops around 3 years ago; the HP was about six months ago), as well as a Macbook Pro which I did not like for many reasons (i.e. several of my music programs are only for Windows, and I don't want to buy a Mac and use Windows on it; I did not like the keyboard design; I hate the word processing; etc.).
I'm willing to spend a maximum of $4,000, but I doubt that a good laptop that'll handle my needs will cost that much. I checked out the upgraded version of my Dell XPS (a new version just came out a few weeks ago, I guess), and that came to about $2,300 with all the best components. However, I've had problems with Dell computers in the past, as they historically do not last for more than two years (there have been exceptions), and have freezing/lag issues for no reason, even on brand new computers. Similarly, I did not like my HP laptop very much, as the screen resolution was lower than the laptop that I used in 7th grade, despite being almost $3,000, and the mouse seemed impossible to use. I ended up returning many of these laptops, and only used the M1530 for the past three years.
People have told me to try Asus laptops, but I don't know anything about those. I went on the Asus website and found so many laptops that I didn't even know where to start...
Any help that you guys could give me with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
