Laptops?, Warning: There may be italics involved. Options

[Twilight Wandere...]

Okay, so here's the deal. I finally got my computer back. Wonderfuls, right? Not really. It's still not fixed, and it still has that god awful Vista still on it.

Well, you found an XP CD while going through your stuff the other day! Why not just use that, right? No. Your father reminds you it's the boot leg copy he gave you that killed your computer thus requiring you to get Vista in the first place.

Well crud. You don't know what to do. He suggests going to a site that sounds extremely phony and looking to see how much Windows 7 is so you can upgrade you computer. But oh. It may not actually be Vista that's the problem, so you'd lose all your data for nothing.

Okay dad. You're really on my poop list right now.

So mom says. Why spend your money fixing something that is broken? Just buy a new laptop. You won't want a desktop when you go off to college in a year anyway.

Oh yeah, I'm doing that, aren't I? Thanks mom. You're not on my poop list.

So anyway. The entire point of that little story was to introduce y'all to why I'm looking at laptops. It's not just for show, I'd like to ask you tech savvy people about what you think is best. ;D

What I'm planning to run on it that I know of are GIMP and Sims 3 with one little expansion pack, maybe more if I get any.

And pictures. Loads and loads of pictures.

This here is my only candidate thus far. I want a laptop basically that can run those applications above and still have a little memory left, if possible. As for money issues, I'll be saving up for this, and my mom said she'll back me up $100.

So, questions, comments, suggestions, etc. I can has them here please.

[EBWonder]

okay....this is a little tricky.....

Your requirements:

Windows 7 (Professional- costs more, but has more tools for running programs at older settings)
- Runs GIMP
- Runs Sims 3 - Sims 3 is semi- win 7 compat
for pictures, you want a good video card (well gimp also needs a good video card)

Large HD - at least what? 1TB (1000 GB)?

also screen size.

With MAcs, you get an all in one, and macs are better for graphics, but repairs are a poain in the trumpet, so you need to be very careful with it if you do. you can go into a mac store and they will repair it but it can take up to 2-4 weeks and is not guarunteed to be repaired or matching in color.