Laptop reccs?

[Dave S]

Hey Bar,

This could be opening a can of worms here, but I'm probably in the
market for a laptop soon, and wondered if anybody has any good
recommendations.  Here's my shopping list of features (off the top of
my head at the current moment):

* Budget: about £350 ish tops, but would gladly spend more like
£250-300 if possible.

* PC platform, not Apple.  (Don't want to start a platform war - my
decision in this area is made.)

* I really want to get a second hand model from a year or two ago -
that should be plenty fast enough I think.  So, if possible, general
recommendations for laptops / brands you have found to be good, which
I might be able to pick up on Ebay.

* Quiet operation - very important indeed, no noisy fans. I would
rather it was a little bit slower than noisy.  Low power consumption
would be a bonus too.

* Fast enough and big enough screen for music making.  Probably I'm
looking for dual core I guess.  I don't care if it's not widescreen.

* Reliability.  I'm pretty clueless when it comes to laptop brands,
but from previous experience, Dell and Sony ain't top of my list.
(Though they may have improved in the last 5 years, I dunno?)

* I'm happy with Linux for work and Win XP for music making, so not
that bothered about Windows 7 (though I haven't actually used it much)
and Vista (didn't like it, seemed like a typical MS mistake release,
like Win ME was).  I guess if it comes with Windows 7, I'll at least
give it a spin, but honestly, the only thing I use Windows for is
music making, and ultimately I hope to move to doing that in Linux and
ditch Windows completely at some point.

* Other things I'd like: 2GB RAM, DVD-RW, decent sized hard drive
(200GB or thereabouts would be fine).

Let battle commence, and may I apologise in advance for starting this
thread!  :-)

Cheers,

~Dave