my HP desktop was a beast, so I tend to disregard any HP bashing people tend to do.

My mom's toshiba satellite (since 2002?) is falling apart. The casing around the screen was cracked and barely staying together. It was frightening to use because I thought I would be the one to sever the screen.

Dell laptops are pretty much far better than their desktops imo. I'd just find something that had really good specs for cheap (because very soon they will be terrible specs)

Or you could get a refurbished macbook ^_^