Planning to get a new laptop, please suggest

1 - ThinkPads are known for being pretty reliable and rugged. I have an old IBM ThinkPad T40 from 2002 that still works, but due to technological advances (even the internet) it is more or less not really useable for current day software and internet surfing. The CMOS battery is dead so I would need to replace it to boot up the laptop now. Lenovo now owns that brand. Since it is a business laptop you deal with business customer service rather than ordinary consumer customer service.

I never owned a HP laptop, but I am currently using Dell Latitude 3540 (3000 series) business laptop that was refurbished by Dell in January 2014. It is a business laptop and I am pretty happy with it. It has a 1920x1080 resolution and a Radeon HD 8850m graphics chip which is a pretty decent for games. Overall, I like the laptop the only thing I really wished it had would be a backlit keyboard. Right besides my Dell Latitude is a Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 with a busted nVidia GT 550m graphics chip. I mostly use it to do some secondary research or listen to news / music on it while I am using my Dell doing whatever.


2 - It's probably better to use your new laptop as your primary laptop since it will likely have better specs than your 3 year old HP. Unless of course you are looking to buy a really inexpensive laptop / netbook which can have lower specs. You should use it for some time to determine if you like it and determine if there are any defects. If you are going to store it away, then do not charge the battery to 100%. Most laptops will only charge the battery to between 50% and 80% unless you override it. This is to prolong the battery life since at near full charge there is a chemical reaction that takes place which more or less shortens the actually battery life. Only charge to 100% if you are take it out with you and you know an AC outlet will not be available.

3 - I think Windows 10 is expected to be released in Oct 2015. Laptop companies generally do not release drivers for a newer OS for a laptop that you buy now unless they are still selling the same laptop model when Win 10 is releases. By then newer generation laptops will be coming out because Intel is releasing newer CPUs this year.

4 - The general recommendation is the Core i5 because it has Turbo Boost which can overclock the CPU when it is stressed for better performance. But it does add around $100 to the cost of the laptop. The Core i3 is fine if you are willing to give up some performance to save money, but if you intend on playing games then it is generally recommended you get the Core i5. 4GB of RAM is usually enough for most people and most laptops will allow you to upgrade the RAM yourself. The Intel HD 4400 / HD 4600 are more than enough for the games you want to play since they are quite old and have low requirements. If you want to play more modern games then it is generally recommended you buy a laptop with a discrete GPU. However, Intel HD 4400 and 4600 can provide decent performance in more recent games with low requirements like League of Legends and the Sims 3.