I would go over to Newegg and review the laptops there, check the ratings and the user reviews.
This is critical because they sell lots of books over there, and if any particular make or model has a history of problems it will often show up in the user reviews.
It can be a little intimidating at first because there are too many makes and models to choose from. The brain cannot easily choose when too many choices are offered. However, I would suggest sorting for the highest rated books, and beginning the reviews from there. Work your way towards books in your preferred price range, and see how that looks to you.
Soon you will find there are just a small handful that will meet your requirements and you can choose from there.
Newegg is a big outfit that's been around for a long time. Kind of like a Costco for computer supplies. So the prices there are almost always competitive and they have stuff going on sale all the time too.
A note on service. If you have a local computer store that sells all of the main brand names, it is often worthwhile to see if they can give you a price on any book you have selected. Expect it to be more, but if there is a particular model you want to buy, and the local guys can source it for only a hundred bucks extra, then ask them about their in shop warranties. It's better that you can go somewhere local for service rather than shipping a computer across the country just to get it fixed if you run into a problem later on.
For example, I will often do my research on Newegg, but buy at the Canada Computer retail store, because Canada computer is a franchise chain with good inventory, and has a store that is local. It costs more, but service is only ten minutes away. Computers do break down from time to time.
Keeping my money local is always meant a lot to me. Newegg, thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely use it for research.
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