Recommended laptop?

[silverzx]

As I've always said, don't buy cheap consumer crap, it'll fall to pieces.

Get yourself a business/pro line machine - you'll pay a premium, even if you get one off ebay etc, something like a HP Pro/Elitebook, higher end Lenovo Thinkpads, Dell Latitude/Precision - you might not get the very latest in spec, but it'll get you a machine that will last, the cheap ones will have the screen hinges fail, keyboard fall to bits etc etc - they'll be worn out before you've gotten good use out of it.

I've a HP NC6400 - which came before the likes of the Pro/Elitebooks and it's still working today, it's tatty and scratched, but it sure does the job! Most reliable laptop I've owned. Compare that to some of the Dell Inspirons I've seen after 6 months and all the shitty plastic bits have just fallen off.

Exactly this.

I've literally had family complaints year after year where they STILL go and buy crap from PCWorld and wonder why it doesn't last 12 months!