Time For A New COMPUTOR

[Havok]

Ok, explain this shit to me like I am a fucking retard.

[Terralthra]

The card that makes games draw on screen on that one is fine.

[TimothyC]

1. Someone will recommend a Lenovo within the next few hours, Lenovo owners love the things

Not just that, but there is a pretty good chance I won't buy another one for another 6 years.

Lenovos are good quality machines, and last just about forever. One thing to keep in mind is that they off extended next-day on-site accidental damage coverage*, plus the build quality is high. While I personally do not own one, my brother does and he enjoys it's rigidity. I've also got a fair number of classmates who have machines approaching the age of yours and they are still going strong.

*I strongly recommend getting accidental damage coverage on any laptop.

[Starglider]

If you want a big screen why aren't you looking at 17" laptops? I prefer 17" for actual lap use anyway, more stable, more space to rest my wrists on. I don't use my old quad core gaming laptop for work or business trips any more but it is handy for computing downstairs or at a relative's house.

[Torben]

Sony = NO - everyone I have ever known has had their Sonys in the shop for hard drives, power buttons, batteries, screen replacement all the frakking time. Granted, they are covered under warranty, but still having to have your computer repaired every 3 months because the power button sticks out 1 inch from the rest of the computer and is held on with 1 little plastic tab?
HP = NO
ASUS = As has been stated, good build quality
Lenovo = YES
Dell = YES - as long as you don't buy the cheapest model they offer
Samsung = no personal experience, though by all reports the series 7 and series 9 are well built
I daily support over 200 dell laptops and 100 lenovo laptops (along with 700 dell desktops) and they all manage fairly well. These are machines that teenagers are given (I am IT Support in a high school) and after 3 years have had only 1 screen failure (someone stuck a pen in it). We have Dell Latitude 4310's (i3? processor) and Lenovo L430 (i5 processor) and they handle photoshop and AutoCAD without problems. The staff have Latitude 6320's (i5 processor) and can even run 3ds max and Solidworks without issue.
That being said, given your specs you need a discrete graphics card, and if you want it to boot "fast" you should get one with the OS on an SSD - of course if it can only have one drive you will not have a lot of storage space.
Given that you want a large monitor, fast boot, want it to last at least 6 years, and want discrete graphics...maybe you should pony up the money and buy a macbook. I personally think they are overpriced, but then I do most of my computing on a desktop (dell) or my phone (samsung). Apple's build quality is excellent, they can be had with SSD's (I think they might be standard now), their displays are *perty*, and they do seem to last quite a long time. Also, they do get excellent battery life - I realize you said you only need to take it from room to room, but if you ever did decide to travel somewhere or take it out of the house, you'd prob be ok.
Basically, look to drop at least a grand on what you want (gaming, photo editing, large screen, fast boot, etc), if not more. Start at that price range and see what you can get.
For around the same cost you could get a tablet that would handle your mobile computing needs and a desktop that could handle your more powerful computing needs - I understand you don't want that, I simply mention it as a comparison.

[Havok]

Thanks Torben good info.
And Starglider I am looking 17" laptops, the last one I posted just happened to be 15.6"

[phongn]

The only problem with Thinkpads is that outside the expensive X- and W- series, the screens tend to suck. Gaming performance can be mediocre, too.

[StarSword]

Samsung = no personal experience, though by all reports the series 7 and series 9 are well built

I can vouch. I use this one and it's survived me dropping it at least twice (love the metal case), plus it runs pretty much every game I've got very well (e.g. zero problems running Skyrim with the HD texture pack). Samsung makes really good screens, too (Dad's words).

It's a little pricier than what the OP has in mind, though. I'm a serious PC gamer and I also do programming. Based on what I've read in the thread, Havok could probably get away with a Lenovo running Intel HD graphics (both Mom and Dad mostly use theirs for office stuff) rather than this thing.

[Stark]

Is that a literal example of 'dad says'? Metal cases don't protect components from impact shock anyway.

[JLTucker]

The only problem with Thinkpads is that outside the expensive X- and W- series, the screens tend to suck. Gaming performance can be mediocre, too.

I think he'll have a fun time using Photoshop on a screen that can only handle 1366x768 or even 1600x900.

[StarSword]

Is that a literal example of 'dad says'?

Dunno what you mean by "literal". In this case it means "my dad is in IT and I trust his judgment."

[Meest]

The only problem with Thinkpads is that outside the expensive X- and W- series, the screens tend to suck. Gaming performance can be mediocre, too.

I think he'll have a fun time using Photoshop on a screen that can only handle 1366x768 or even 1600x900.

Most of them should offer an HD or IPS screen upgrade, usually expensive (think it was $150 extra on mine) if you're a stickler for stuff like that. If he doesn't care about viewing angles and colour accuracy it's not really needed for non-pro work other than being a resolution boost. Guess only other point is if you find standard screens to be blurry with text and stuff like that.