which laptop is the best

Amen, that's all I can really add. even though i've had my share of issues with my Toshiba laptop, it's outlasted my Sony and Dells by many months.

i've had an old tos for going on 6-7 years and when all else fails i can go to the closet dust it off and everything is fine, until the other is being fixed. but ya know you can get pretty cheap laptops now some 399-425 thats not bad/ i was looking at the touch screens at sam's club the other day, now that is saaa-weet

Okay... I'm really sorry but about 65% of that went completely over my head. But I was never seriously going to get a Macbook air. Their creation was a stunt... to see if they could really make the world's thinnest laptop. It might be cool to have one, and it might come in handy since I'm a writer and a lightweight laptop would be a good computer to use for it. 128 GB might not be much but it could hold well over a dozen novels. But, they are rather expensive just for a writing computer. I have a Macbook Pro because it's the best computer to do my video editing. It runs Final Cut Studios, and I've got Microsoft Word for Mac on it for my writing. It's also the best computer I've ever owned. I've had it for more than a year and have experienced minimal problems.

very minimial ports, one USB, no monitor/svid out or anything. only a headphone jack, i think the "mic" is built in there by the webcam. also, have you SEEN the price on those blasted things?! 1800 USD for the most stripped down model! i should note as well, the 1800 USD model, is only a 1.6ghz processor. this several notches down from most laptops you'll see on the market. ALSO, you will be needing to buy some kind of external storage because the MAX hard drive you can get in this laptop is only 128GB! all in all, it might be an "ok" buy if you have conditions that limit you to a very thin, light weight laptop. honestly, i don't have 1800 USD to spend on something that i'm going to have to buy that much more stuff to get the job done. The Toshiba that i currently use is a 1.7ghz processor (yes at times it's WAY to slow) w/ 300+GB hard drive space, which runs out way to frequently as well. Bottom line is this, sit down and think about what you're going to do with the laptop, look at the requirements to run the software you are going to need to do what you want to do, find a system that provides those resources with 5-10% room to grow. that should keep you in the clear for 1-2 years at the current pace of techonology. as well, RESEARCH!! look for customer reviews of brands and models that you are considering, ask for opinions here and other places where tech-heads like myself are present. and you'll be the happier for it because you won't spend near as much time returning products that don't do what you need.