I'm not a professional in the computer industry, but I have used several types of computers. I believe that HP is on the lower end of computer quality. Compaq/HP has not worked so good for me. Acer is pretty good, and usually more inexpensive. I was told once by a computer repair guy that the cheaper Dells tend to run hot (they don't bother to put the right fan to cool it down according to the specs) and they'll start having problems after a couple years. Higher priced Dells (made for businesses) are usually fine. My personal favorite is a sony- excellent quality, but they are more expensive. We used one at home for 7 years before we replaced it (with another sony laptop) due to needing more memory. Honestly, you'll probably have the least amount of problems with a Mac- expensive though. Very important to look at the memory and processor specs before purchasing any computer. Google is a great resource too!