I figured there's probably a thread for this somewhere in here but I didn't spend a lot of time looking. I'm trying to help my girlfriend buy a new laptop and I don't know all that much about computers.

We've both had Dell's in the past but she's ready to try something different. I've heard and read a lot of good things about HP and Lenovo. The computer is really just for everyday use, going on the internet, some light word processing and storing a lot of music and pictures. So far what I've seen in the affordable range is something between 4-6GB of memory, 500GB hard drive and 2.4ghz processor. I've only had Intel's but most of the Lenovo's have AMDs so any info about those would be good as well.

Thanks in advance for any info or advice.

my wife has the Toshiba and it's pretty awesome

An Apple IMO is hands down the best, but expensive. I just bought a Dell a few months ago and have had good luck, but since you want to try something different, I think if it were me id go HP.

I just bought a Toshiba last summer for $500+. Processor is an Intel Core 3 2.53 GHz 4 Gigs of physical RAM
500 Gig Hard drive.

While it functions awesomely, the quality of the materials used in the casing and the keyboard is sorely lacking. Within a week of purchase, I had to send the computer in for warranty work because the charge cord and the jack that it plugs into broke. And after getting it back from warranty, which actually was a smooth process as warranty work goes, 1 of the 2 ALT keys cap broke off. ( I have an ALT key on each side of the space bar.) I just decided to not worry about that since I don't ever use the ALT key because I don't even know what ALT is for. LOL.

Basically, I am happy with it in every way except for the quality materials used in the casing.

I have a Toshiba and I love it. I use it for school, roller coaster tycoon 2, and photoshop. Runs smooth and haven't had one problem with it. I recommend Toshiba.

If she's not going to do anything that requires major processing power (editing photos or videos, gaming, etc), it might be worth your while to check out one of the new ultra books. They are basically very light, very portable laptops that are a bit cheaper and don't have as much processing power. The Macbook Air was the one that really put this category on the market. There were a whole bunch just announced at CES. I don't know all the details of them, but it would be worth looking into.

Which one do you buy? If you take sly's advice, it will be the one that can hold the most porn vids and pics.

Most of those Mini laptops don't have disc drives. If you want to load a game into it, you have to buy and external disc drive.

Or download it via internet/home network

If you use an ultrabook to play a game, you're going to be badly disappointed. Hence why I said the bolded part above. If she does ANY gaming, don't get an ultrabook. They're not meant for that.

The disc drive is going away though. Many manufacturers will start doing away with it as a standard piece of hardware before long. It's just not commonly used that much anymore. Apple has already started phasing it out. And as a personal example, my work laptop doesn't have one anymore either. Pretty much everything is moving to a download/cloud based model.

I like Hps personally.

I've had 2 hp pavilions lately and they were both trash

It's too bad Alienware sold out to dell, but there stuff is still the best you can buy

That sucks to hear. IMO Hps were the most comfortable to use (I can't stand the offset touch pad, and I hate carrying a mouse around and finding a place to put it). I liked their design, comfort, size, dimensions, weight, etc. I can't stand the Dell case. IMO it's too bulky. Toshiba's are alright, but IMO they look cheap and cheesey, and they like glossy touch pads - I can't stand that... your fingers don't glide around they stick.

Maybe I'll just buy a POS Acer. They're not bad for the $$$.

Mine got extremely hot, the battery in one shorted after 11 months, one had to have the screen ribbon replaced, the hard drive in one simply failed to spin up, and so on....all in under 12 months...

Right now I'm seriously using a Compaq (same style as HP) that I bought in 2005. It's definitely time for a new one. I get a perpetual "your hard drive is about to fail" notice upon start-up, it gets super hot anymore (the fans aren't working properly for some reason... I've tried drivers, etc., but I think something is weird with the motherboard), the thing is just on its last legs.

I can't stand that there literally aren't any decent laptops available right now.