Laptop recommendations?

I have a Toshiba Satellite. Been good for the few years I've had it. I would personally stay away from Apple products. For what you need, you can get a better laptop for less money. I would also stay away from HP products. Quality has gone down. Toshiba makes good laptops. You could look into tablets also, with an external hard drive for space. Cheap, and easy to navigate. Windows 8 has its issues, but by the time Windows 7 isn't supported, all the bugs with Windows 8 should be worked out.

Hope this helps.