Need a laptop for school - any recommendations?
 

These are the minimum requirements for a laptop for my wife's school - we're looking to spend as little money as possible, but get something that will last the four years of school.

Processor
* Intel Core 2 Duo / Centrino 2

Memory
* Minimum 2GB / 4GB recommended

Drives
* 160GB Hard Drive (minimum)
* DVD±RW (±R DL) DVD and CD burner

Display and Graphics
* 15” display
* 128MB display adaptor (minimum)

Communications
* Wireless: 802.11b/g/n
* Ethernet: 10/100/1000

We are looking to spend 500-600 CAD on everything (taxes, shipping included), but if you can pick it up in-store - I can fly over and pick it up for free.

This isn't an Intel processor, but it's a dual core and IMO it's a screamin' deal and it meets all your other spec requirements.

I wanna buy a new Desktop Replacement Laptop!
 

Note: I thought it would be more appropriate to bump up this 3-month old thread - than to make a new one which basically asks the same question in a different manner.

New Windows release, new line of laptops, with manufacturers salivating at the prospect of a new upgrading cycle. And I'm ready to hop on.

For a long time, I've been eyeing the Sony Vaio FW45 model, which has a P8700 (2.53GHz) processor, 3GB of RAM, a 400 GB hard disk, an ATI video card with 512MB VRAM, and most important to me, 16.4" widescreen screen. The price has stubbornly refused to drop from SG$2199 (around US$1600). My sweet spot is at SG$1800.

Sony Singapore has just introduced a new model called the FW55, which is the 45's successor. It has a slightly faster processor and a brand new OS, but is otherwise identical in specifications to the predecessor. It retails at 2199 as well -- I wanted to jump in and buy the 45 model, but it doesn't seem to be available now.

So, I've no choice but to re-evaluate the current lineups, from ALL vendors now.

The following things are very important to me:

1. As large a screen as possible
2. As reliable as can be, and barring that, excellent service
3. Will cost no more than SGD2199.

I don't much care about battery life.

From my own experience, my Toshiba laptop was very good feature-wise, but before the first year was over, I had replaced the motherboard, hard disk, LCD screen, RAM, and speakers. The service stinks as well, although all the replacements were done within the warranty period. A month after the warranty expired, the DVD drive went bust. But despite these small problems, the Toshiba was a really good laptop, honest!

I've also dealt with Dells, and boy, these were weak-ass plastic toys with keys and hinges that easily fall apart.

I've used IBM (Lenovo) ThinkPads, and they're rock-solid. Haven't had any fail on me yet - and the support is excellent. The problem is the price versus the feature set - the ThinkPad range looks a tad pricey.

I have never touched an HP/Compaq, a Fujitsu, or a Gateway. Acer and Asus are Taiwanese brands, and aren't synonymous with reliability in my mind. Ditto with Samsung and LG laptops - the Korean wannabes. Panasonic makes really tough notebooks, but I don't wreck laptops enough to justify the price premium, given the substandard specs.

Nevertheless! I'm willing to forget all that. Maybe 2 years is enough time for Toshiba to start making good laptops, and Lenovo to fuck up with their ThinkPads. There's a new OS, so I'm willing to clear out my preconceptions, and go with more recent anecdotes.

Dear denizens of the Computing Forums, the point of my wall of text is just to ask you the following:

What laptop, given my specifications, would you recommend -- based on your recent personal experience? Conversely, which ones should I avoid like the plague?

Thank you!