Okay so recently, literally yesterday, my computer broke. The corner broke so I can't close or open it any farther than it currently is(about a 70° angle). I've had this computer for almost four years now and I really like it. It's an HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook Computer with an AMD Phenom II N640 Dual-Core Processor 2.90GZ, 6GB of RAM, and 64-bit Operating system. I got it from QVC so I'd like to buy through them again but I just want the communities opinion on what's a good computer that's reasonably priced. I use it mainly for surfing the web, watching movies, playing hidden object games from big fish, and a bit of researching. I'm looking for pretty much the same if not better picture quality, at least 1TB hard drive, pretty fast connection and pretty good battery life. Around $700 or so. I like hp computers even though this was my only hp, but I've had Acer before and I didn't particularly like it.
Looking for a new computer
You can buy new hinges, upper and lower frames for popular laptops. Search on line for those with Google or ebay. Cheaper than throwing out a working laptop.
http://www.amazon.com/...B00ISLVU2A for hinge.
http://www.aliexpress.com/...y=6vYvMRFf for bottom cover
http://www.ebay.com/...0770226486 top of bottom section.
More parts and instructions on taking it apart on Youtube.
Newegg.com has a nice tool that lets you filter your search by various things, such as CPU, OS, quality of graphics and so on. I suggest using it to help narrow your search.
Also, Mainstream Windows laptop mfg ratings:
Lenovo is the number one, followed by Asus, HP, Dell, and Samsung, in that order.
At the bottom of the pile are, from the bottom up, Sony, Acer/Gateway, and Toshiba.
Purchasing a laptop is a highly personal decision. You need to decide what type of keyboard you want: do you want a full sized keyboard or are you okay with something smaller? Do you like or despise the chicklet keyboards like apple uses? Do you want a backlit keyboard? Do you want a numeric keypad? Do you want a touchpad and/or point stick? Do you want 2 mouse buttons or 3? Do you want them above or below the touchpad? How large a screen: 13"? 14"? 15.6"? 17"? If you are highly mobile, then smaller is lighter. If you don't move around much then bigger means heavier but a much more visible screen. These are all things to ponder which have a significant impact on how happy you are with your laptop experience.