Kristi R. Thanks Chris, I was shopping for a new laptop, I might have to go with a PC rather than apple due to cost factors and didn't know much about PC laptops

Chris O. I would tentatively suggest Lenovo as a manufacturer to look seriously at. This company used to make the IBM Thinkpad series and now makes Thinkpads under its own name. The Thinkpad range has always been primarily for business use. They now also offer a home and games series is called Ideapad.

If you're looking for a rock-solid, stable and reliable notebook PC, you won't go far wrong. The prices do reflect this, though; these are by no means the cheapest machines on the market.

Traditionally IBM Thinkpads survive just about anything you can throw at them. I have two, both five years old, both running perfectly. One of these has been dropped so often that the case is cracked in at least three places, there are bits missing from around the edges and it even survived being dropped on its hard drive. Last time, I fell out of a loft bed, dropped about four feet and had my fall broken by the notebook, which unfortunately was standing up right there. It sprang the screen holder and one of the top catches out and even bent the titanium lid, but the machine still started up fine. And because it's not all plastic, I just bent it back into shape. I'm typing on it right now. These machines are still in use extensively in business environments, where they're considered fairly safe for employees to take home and the costs have been recovered years ago.

I am not familiar with the Ideapads, but I have read some good things about those, too. I guess you aren't looking for a gaming machine anyway, since you were considering buying Apple.

Other than these, I hear Dell are OK but a bit spotty in performance from model to model, and again, not cheap for business use. They don't seem to have quite the reputation that Dell desktops used to have. Sony make solid but expensive machines that are often recommended, and Toshiba is also worth a look at a lower price point.

Other than that, Windows 7 is now universal on all new PCs, and the simplest processor range to get a handle on is the Intel range which numbers i3 i5 and i7. The lowest performer is the i3, which is still respectable for business uses, the i5 is the mid-range multimedia model, and the i7 is the most advanced and much more expensive version. If you can afford an i7-based machine, it's well worth considering, though you won't get the full benefit from running Word and Excel, which don't need this power. For average uses I would consider an i5 based machine with as much memory as can be crammed in; 4Gb is good.

I hope that helps, though everyone will have their own favorites of course, and there's no such thing as the right time or the right price point; things move too fast.

Bobby K. I hear ya about the apple laptops. They are slick and nice but so damn expensive.