How long will it last, or how long will it be before you want to buy something else? Even top of the line rigs are obsolete by the time they reach your door, so there's no real answer.

In terms of equipment life span it should last at least 3 to 5 years before it begins to give you issues. It depends on how frequently you use it. My 5 year old HP laptop (not used for gaming) is starting to fail, so it looks like I'm in the market for a replacement as well.

What are you going to do with the HP laptop when you get your new computer (just curious) - practice disassembling/upgrading (by buying a new mobo/parts depending)/reassembling it just for fun (I have such an exercise in my new CompTIA A+ Study Guide (2009 ed) that I bought last month)?

I'll purchase a new deck for it (the screen hinges are cracking) and give it to my granddaughter.

She claims she needs more mobility (and she's only 8 ).

Oh, dear... only 8 and she already needs more mobility. You are SOOOO in trouble, Inland! But I've got two granddaughters and a great niece in the same age-range and I'm already in awe of their computer knowledge. Of course, Grandma/Auntie has had to give them a few gentle lectures on safe computing!

I still don't understand why you couldn't find a Windows based laptop that would have covered all your bases for probably half the money, then you would have had the money for a fantastic gaming desktop.

We got into that eons ago at MM, and I'd rather just say that I like my mac, I'm glad I bought it, and we found a laptop identical to the one Drac found for me at newegg (PC) online this afternoon (w a 1 yr warranty) that my nephew is going to order for me using his ipad after Mom transfers my savings into our other acc't Tuesday.

It's your bank account, hope this one works out for you.

We didn't buy the laptop yet, I told Nate (nephew living with us) to look for a laptop with the same specs but hopefully with a Core 2 Duo (or quad) i7 processor @ 3 GHz, a fast 1 GB NVidia 3D video card, and a DL dvd burner (at most) for about the same price on ebay. But I forgot to add Amazon.com - what would you guys recommend?

No "bidding only" ebay auctions, please - just "buy it now"s.

I'd like to change that i7 to either an i3/i5 and the 3 GHz to the highest percentage of a 2 GHz as I can possibly get. Would also like to find such a laptop on Amazon.com as well as ebay.

Any ones out there?

If you are going to eBay, put it in a search, then specify what you are looking for. Save the search then you will be notified as new ones meeting your criteria come up.

Personally I wouldn't buy one on eBay, might be DOA or not returnable. I do buy a lot of things on eBay, but not computer stuff.

I bought a win 98 desktop on eBay from a person with a great rating.... BUT I would be hesitant to buy a new computer.... they are not( I don't believe) going to offer the kind of support I would want if something goes wrong. Go with one of the known shops everyone has been giving you Cuise.

Actually, my nephew found that laptop on ebay that was identical to the one Drac found for me on Newegg, and I just told Nate (live-in nephew) that I was ready to buy that laptop he found for me on ebay, so I have a question: how long do you guys think it'll be before the devs start making adventure games requiring CPU speeds in excess of the CPU speed (in GHz) of that laptop?

Though I haven't read the description, I believed my nephew when he said the laptop he found for me on ebay is the same as the laptop Drac found for me at Newegg, which is an Intel Core i3 370M @ 2.4 GHz.

EDIT - The nephew fetched me that ebay page, I bookmarked it, and yes, this laptop is exactly the same as the one Drac found for me.

I sprang for this laptop at 1 a.m. this morning, paying for it "bill me later" b/c our paypal acc't is a bit screwed up - apparently the credit/debit card that is associated with the "instant transfer" of funds from our bank is an expired card, and paypal wouldn't let me pay using "other credit/debit card" option (this option was associated with our current Amazon/ebay/paypal debit card) b/c paypal said our current card was linked to paypal. So I went into my paypal profile, edited the card, clicked on "make primary card", saved it, and again tried to pay using "other credit/debit card" option. But this time paypal said that our current card was embedded (or something like this) with paypal, and it wouldn't work. So I went back into PP profile, unchecked "make primary card", saved, and tried to pay using the "bill me later" option. After adding a few personal info, I was approved (paypal/the debit cards, etc, are in Mom's name, so I had to add the last 4 digits on Mom's SS # (talk about playing CSI agent Live at 1 a.m!)) and I was approved.

Next I got emails (on Mom's PC b/c our ebay/PP acc't was originally set up using Mom's emai addy) telling me Congrats you won laptop; thank you for payment; etc.

ebay laptop I bought last nite (1 a.m.)

Looks like you got a good one. Hope it works out.

Hopefully you will tell your Mom, I have Bill Me Later too, makes things rather tempting. Just be aware that they will send lot's of emails to your Mom's address since your PayPal is in her name.

You should be able to change cards on your PayPal account. It is actually better to use your checking account as primary, but it takes a while to get it verified. Once you do you don't have to worry about expiration dates. Then you can put your credit/debit card as a backup, in case the funds transfer doesn't go through.

Anyway, nice laptop and no shipping is a plus. Let us know how it works out.

How exactly do I do this? Could you walk me thru it please?

Cruise I tried to send you a PM but your inbox is over limit. You will need to clear some messages first. Overwise just go to PayPal, log in and check the "Help" section. I think when they verify/confirm you they will make a small deposit and or withdrawal to your acount.

Ok, Hawka, I got rid of some PM's. If you still want to send me a PM now, go ahead.

See your PM

Ooo, wow - I see that my new laptop has DDR3 VRAM which, according to what I read in Lexxy's post, "Pixels everywhere" DDR3 is 2X as fast as DDR2.

Drac, (and everybody) - I've checked Drac's Windows 7 and games thread, and I'm impressed with the number of games that will run in 7! But for these games that won't install/play in Win 7, I'm quoting Jenny100 (from cazziejoe's new computer thread here in glitches) regarding having a dual boot of win 7 and XP on my new Win 7 64 bit OS laptop -

Here, I agree with Jenny on this. I've d/l Easy BCD plus I bookmarked how-to's on setting up a Win 7 PC up as a dual boot for Win 7/XP, and as my HDD is going to be 500 GB, I'm going to split it 50% - 50% W7/WXP, and I'm aware of the fact that I'll have to install all the device drivers from Acer's website for my new laptop's hardware on the XP partition.

OK. Now I'm really tempted to go <<<

Sorry !!!! []

That is because I just can't imagine buying a brand new laptop and doing that to it,