seeking advice re buying new laptop

Just over a week go, I tripped and the laptop in my hand fell on the floor and was irrepairable. I was doing some research and hope in the next day or two to select my new nifty laptop.

Here's what I need it for - I have just discovered that my photo editing is probably way-off because of my old computer. So I want a new one with enough power to be fast and smooth and enough resolution to give me the best photo editing experience I can afford.

I was thinking of the latest Asus Zenbook upgraded with 8 gb.

But I've also heard that Asus G74 or N56V are very good.

I've also read that Dell XPS 15 or larger are good.

How important is it to have duel monitor possibility? greater than 2.1-2.8 GHz? 220 ppi (and how do I know if these have this how is this different from screen resolution (such as 1920X1080)?

Are they all now IPS as opposed to TN monitors?

Thanks - love to hear what you think.

When it comes to techie spec Sheri I'm useless. But I have owned an Asus in the past and can honestly say it was reliable, suited my purposes at the time (I believe it was only 3gb) and was excellent value for money. 

Sheri, Listen to me! Do not buy a Dell!!! I have owned many, and they are pieces of crap. The only reason I kept buying them is that I had a credit card with the company. Toshiba is the best in my experience. I ruined mine by fumbling a glass of coke and spilling it all over the keyboard.

I bought a laptop this last year and love it. I only paid $200 for it. I had taken my Dell XPS desktop in to have it repaired, and I mentioned to the tech that I needed a laptop. He said he had a refurbished one for sale, and that it had been his personal laptop.

I asked him if he thought it was worth it to buy a used computer. He replied that he considered computers the same as cars. Once you drive them off the lot, they've depreciated in value considerably. If you have any computer repair shops around, go in and ask about buying a used one. I love mine. It's a Compaq.

Whatever you do. Do not buy a Dell!!!

I am not in tech scene anymore, but I can say I have good experience with Asus and none with Dell. So if you are collecting votes, Asus leads 2 : 0 at the moment;)

Brenda makes a good point. I have a close friend who's a computer geek/programmer. He fixes and refurbishes computers with his friend and fellow computer geek. It's amazing what they do with used computers. They run a little shop uptown where they rebuild and store their inventory. 

It's standard for them to take apart and paint the body, replace keyboard and such while doing an overhaul on the guts if you will. It's a great way to get a laptop with hands on special attention from a skilled professional rather than one assembled in a assembly type production based environment at a fraction of the cost. 

Plus, I really like the act and feeling of recycling... 

You might do well to ask around for someone locally who does this. 

I'm thrilled you did not hurt yourself while stumbling. 

What's your budget? (you can PM me if you like)

I can tell you that for photoshop, video, or other things you are going to want a fast CPU, at least 4 gigs of memory, and a lot of hard drive space- video card should be decent too (graphics processing chip/card rather)...

Think of this as not just for today but tomorrow. Likely you will want to maintain this puppy for 3-5 years and that means as you develop and grow in your online career endeavors your needs will spike at some point beyond what you need right now so think ahead and get enough memory/cpu/hd space to assure your laptop won't limit you.

I bought an HP IQ526 (desktop) over 5 years ago and this puppy is still going strong- which is amazing since I put it through more laps than Nike shoes... HP is a very decent brand too (laptops and desktops)

The new windows yoga is a nice choice and converts to a tablet or laptop just by removing the screen... there is another one too that is newer and I think cooler (saw a commercial but don't remember the name)- not sure the price point though. Generally I'd not spend less than 1,000 on a computer but I have a lot of requirements you may not need. Go to tiger direct, they have great deals all the time. 

Jerrico

In Israel, we have a hard time spending less than $1000 on a laptop and not because it's worth it, but because of all the taxes they heap on us. My timing is a bit off for shopping duty-free since I'm not going anywhere for quite awhile.

Thanks for your help. I took the Dell off the table and that left me with the Asus - I am buying it from a guy who also fixes computers (doesn't have anything second hand for me right now) and his prices are somewhat lower than in other stores. What I'm looking at is an Asus UX32V and he will replace the 4 giga with 8 giga. The screen is 1900x1080. It is core i7.  Here is the graphics info:

• Integrated Intel HD graphics 4000
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 620M discrete graphics with Optimus

where I see the biggest drawback is the HDD-SSD combination that was intended to give better speed but doesn't quite work as well as expected. I wonder if my computer guy can do something to improve that or if I need to wait until they provide a software update to fix that problem.

I HAVE learned a bit in this exploration for a new computer.

What do you think? (BTW, it does cost over $1000 even outside of Israel).

Just as a reminder - I don't play games. The most demanding work I want of my computer is photo editing and sometimes to play around with editing videos I take and adding music to them (what programme do I need for that?)

I am following this because I also need a new laptop.

Glad you asked this question Sheri.