Billye,

Do you have any software of your own, that is any that you plan on installing on your new machine - - or perhaps you are just planning to use the programs that will already be installed? And do you have any hardware that you would plan to connect to your new machine - - things like a printer, scanner, camera, etc?

Assuming you are not going to be lugging this around with you outside the house, I also think that you want a good size screen. However, you have to be careful when choosing a screen for a new notebook. In general, the larger the screen, the higher the resolution. What this means is that you will see much more detail but the text (and icon) size gets smaller.

So these large screens are often great for watching movies and videos, but a killer for reading text, especially for anybody with vision issues. I am in that category myself - - I have turned down quite a few great notebooks because the resolution is too big.

Do not let any computer sales folks tell you that you can always just lower the resolution and make the text bigger. While this is technically true, the result is less than desirable. All notebook screens have what is called a "native resolution." The images look best and the text is the sharpest at this native resolution. I have seen them demonstrate the lower resolution in the store, and the customer thinks that it really isn't so bad. But when they get it home and start using it for awhile, they will be very unhappy.

I think you may be ok with the resolution on this Toshiba as it is not as high a resolution as other screens of this size. I definitely would not go any higher. If you are using a screen now, it might be helpful to compare the resolution. If you don't know, you could just post the name and model of the screen, and I can find out. If all that is too much, then it really might be a good idea to go the computer store and check it out for yourself.

rafi