Laptop?

[Echofaction]

Apple ~ (Fascist) YOU WILL DO WHAT WE TELL YOU! This is the path FOLLOW it, DO NOT stray from it.
Microsoft ~ (Democracy) Ok everyone! throw in you ideas an stuff an lets hope it works together! oh crap...
Linux ~ (Communist) Everything is the same, so... We are to Follow us!

Yeah the fact that I tried to come up with a witty response to that for about twenty minutes...  you win.  You just win it all.

[KapitanVonWolf]

[Drewdle]

Why all the HP hate? I'll admit their low-end offerings are junk, but I recently picked up an EliteBook, and it's fantastic. It's a business class 12" ultraportable, weighs 3lbs, has an optical drive, etc. It's basically a HP MacBook Air, without all the Air's hardware limitations. It makes the commute to school with me five times a week, and it's holding up great so far. It's also worth noting the HPs come in relatively infrequently for service at my work. Here's a brand rundown through my experience as a salesman/tech:

Acer: Some people say it's great, some people say it's crap. I wouldn't trust it as I've seen too many students bring their laptops in, almost in tears, trying to resuscitate it so they can get their (enter project here) finished. Questionable, even with all the fanboys.

Apple: Extortionists. They make some of the best hardware in the business from a reliability standpoint, however, you pay a lot, you don't get the newest specs, and you're under Steve Jobs' thumb. I have a Mac Mini and think the software is fantastic, but I can't afford the habit anymore and, frankly, want something with a little more openness.

ASUS: Lots of people at school have these machines and think they're great. Can be a little hard to get warranty service for unless you buy it from a brick-and-mortar shop.

Compaq: Budget end of HP. Terribly unfortunate, they used to be great computers, but I can't say much good about them now.

Gateway: A division of Acer.

HP: A mixed bag. Pay enough and you'll get a good computer. $600 seems to be the magic mark. So any Pavillion DV series machine would be fine, but the G series is junk. Their business class machines, as I mentioned above, are great.

Toshiba: I've been less than impressed with these guys lately. They used to be the paragon of PC laptop solidity, but unless you're buying into the higher end Satellite series or the Qosmio or Portege series, you're likely to run into hard drive trouble. Software is atrocious; easily the worst of anything we sell with regards to the amount of crap they bundle with the system software.

Sony: Actually, Sony machines are pretty decent. We don't get many back for service, they have nice features, seem well built, and their software bundle is one of the lightest on the market. You do have to pay the Sony tax though.

[Daakshi]

Actually Drewdle, I have an hp dv4 pavillion, and I have had SO many problems with it. First, a combination of Vista and bad RAM fried my hard drive, so I upgraded both (now running with 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive) but when I upgraded to seven, the drivers for my webcam, speakers, and microphone got left behind somehow. After hours of searching and trying drivers, I have gotten my speakers to work, and the webcam and microphone work, BUT only through msn video or voice chat. I can't get them to work with anything else. And now my SD card slot will not read my card! I wouldn't recommend hp to anyone.

[Drewdle]

Actually Drewdle, I have an hp dv4 pavillion, and I have had SO many problems with it. First, a combination of Vista and bad RAM fried my hard drive, so I upgraded both (now running with 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive) but when I upgraded to seven, the drivers for my webcam, speakers, and microphone got left behind somehow. After hours of searching and trying drivers, I have gotten my speakers to work, and the webcam and microphone work, BUT only through msn video or voice chat. I can't get them to work with anything else. And now my SD card slot will not read my card! I wouldn't recommend hp to anyone.

Well, see, always good to have more than one opinion it seems. I won't deny I've seen HPs with problems, but what I'm getting at is that most machines seem to have lemons amongst the bunch. Your issues sound software related, that Vista cooked your hard drive is not uncommon and that Windows 7 dropped your drivers is also a problem that is Microsoft related, although to be fair HP should have new Windows 7 drivers on the web for you. If they don't then yes, I'd be upset.

Here's hoping my experience doesn't turn out like yours did.

[Daakshi]

Yeah, I've looked on the site, and there are no drivers for any of my hardware issues. ><

[Daakshi]

Huzzah! I fixed it! For some reason, some Acer driver did the trick. O_o

[Orcus]

I suggest ASUS, i have the G74, battery life is only a couple of hours cause its a power house, but they have as many options as cars did back in the 70s and 60s so getting one to suite your needs would be easy