I bought my first laptop a year ago. Compaq. While I haven't had trouble with the hinges (yet; oh joy, something ELSE to look forward to), it does what it wants a LOT and I am not very pleased. I did realize that compaq is the low end and price was a huge factor for me at the time. But geesh come on, stop going into ALL CAPS for no reason whatsoever! And there is no way for me to get it OUT of ALL CAPS, I just have to wait for it to decide to bounce back. Rebooting DOES work, but who wants to keep doing that? And then when I click on a PT thread, it sometimes decides to open a whole new window, all by itself. Again, no reason, I did NOT hit any buttons and I can't get it back. When it is in this ALL CAPS mode, the numbers and punctuation don't work. SO< A SENTENCE WILL ( TIMES OUT OF !) COME OUT LOOKING REAL WEIRD<

Ok, so I did that one myself. But you get the idea.

I would spend a bit extra for the next quality up.

I don't know what to say about the bouncing. I would just invest in a better bag, as I drop it when carrying it, not when working on it.

Will you need certain software for your work? Check what that needs for space and make sure you buy one that can support the software.

I got the widescreen and really enjoy that. Takes getting used to as it is still smaller than the desktop monitor. And I got a cheap mouse and key pad to connect to the USB ports, they work fine for my stuff.

Good luck.
Sandie