Originally Posted by Curious Joel

My laptop's hard drive died last week for the 5th time, and I've only had it about a year. Now, though, it's out of warranty and the guy at our local computer repair place said it's not worth it to replace it anymore if we have to buy a new hard drive. So, I need a new laptop. I thought I'd come here to do some research, since you all seem to know a lot about computers.
I'm looking for a laptop, mid-sized... I don't want one that's too small, and I don't like the widescreen ones. It has to have plenty of storage space for my pictures and songs. A DVD player/CD burner is needed, too. That's pretty much it. All I use the computer for is AIM, e-mail, and Internet, mainly. I don't play games anymore. Any good suggestions? I won't buy another Toshiba under any circumstances.
I wanted a Mac but my mom said she's worried I'll have issues when I go to college with compatibility. She said she'd be willing to get me a Mac as a second computer as a birthday or Christmas present, but that she wants me to have a computer with Windows as my main computer. So, what do you guys suggest?
TIA