In the past thirteen years I've had five laptops: Two Compaqs, a Dell, a Panasonic Tough-book, and a Toshiba. When I was issued the Toshiba I naturally joked about their making cheap B&W TVs and microwave ovens, but that Toshiba was as good as the Compaqs. It was light-years ahead of the Dell in both performance and reliability. (The Dell HAD no reliability. The only thing worse than the keyboard problems was the all-too-frequent blue-screen of death.) My Panasonic Toughbook is the best laptop I have ever used. Way too big, way too heavy, way too expensive, but indestructable and with a battery that simply won't quit. Back to my point, don't hesitate to buy a Toshiba laptop. Mine never missed a beat.