My laptop has frozen up four times today and just bluescreened, and it's reminding me that I really need to get around to replacing the poor thing. The problem: Researching laptops is Hard, and I don't know where to start. The other problem: My anxiety+avoidance kicks in when I think too much about it because of the above. SO. Does anyone have any advice on where to start looking into this, so I can actually get the most out of my money and not either a) buy something that's not going to fill my needs because I'm overwhelmed by options or b) waffle and avoid until this thing dies and I have to do emergency research on my mom's computer and possibly do a) anyway? Spoiler: Details My current laptop is a rather battered 5-year-old Lenovo Ideapad Y480. It's held up and done its job quite well, despite some fairly serious manhandling on my part. This is my primary computer. I don't have a smartphone, so it gets even more use. I have a grudge against Windows 10, and while I'm probably not going to find a lot of laptops still running Windows 7 by default, it'd sure be nice. I do some gaming, but mostly single-player and not hugely graphics-intense. The worst I'm likely to put it through is PS2 emulation, which my current laptop can barely handle but is prone to overheating during. I haul my computer to work, so I don't want anything too heavy or delicate.
If all else fails, I'll buy a newer model in the same line as the one I have now and hope. (Incidentally, if anyone else has any "oh god how do buy thing" woes or advice, I don't mind those even if they're not related to my laptop angst.)
I used this thing to find laptops (I eventually settled on an ASUS and it's light, seems pretty durable, and doesn't overheat, so I'm happy with it)
SSDs are lighter, faster, cooler and more durable than HDDs, but have less storage space. However, an HDD can't safely be moved while it's running-you always run a major risk of damaging it-while an SSD can safely be moved around while it's running. Also, if you buy a laptop at a physical store, you basically don't have to worry about if that specific laptop has an HDD or an SSD-you can pay a bit of extra money to get it swapped to the other type in-store, and you also get the original hard drive as an external drive.
