Advice on laptop from US

plonk

Hi

I currently own an acer 2920z which has served me fairly well over the last 3 years but it is now falling apart.

I have maximum 1000$ to spend on the laptop and I'm currently looking at 2 toshibas both porteges.

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Port%C3%A9g%C3%A9-R705-P41-TruBrite-13-3-Inch/dp/B0041O425K/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1288817353&sr=1-1

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+Portege+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174;+Core%26%23153;+i3+Processor+/+13.3%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Blue/1260752.p?id=1218243759243&skuId=1260752&st=portege&cp=1&lp=2#tabbed-customerreviews

I will mainly be using these for basic stuff, internet, music etc but also some image and audio processing.

Is there anything you would recommend over these like the macbook air and if not which one would you go for.

Cheers

U_Fig

the main thing i would be wary of importing a laptop from the us us import duty and tax....you are looking at adding i think up to 35% on purchases when you take into account paying the 21% vat and around 13% import duty calculated including the shipping fee.. unless ur going to collect it and bring it here (you can be caught and made to pay the import duty) i'd advise getting a laptop from ireland or the uk to aviod import duty

the specs you are looking at seem ok for what you need...but i'd advise a dedicated graphics card for faster audio and image processing..

dazzday

IIRC Ireland follows closely to the UK so laptops are actually free of import duty and only liable for VAT.