Need a "new to me but used" laptop for recording

My trusty HP 8510 laptop is near death. It runs for sporadic times and then the LCD just goes black. Cost of troubleshooting and repair seems not worth it.

So I need another laptop. I am looking for something with a price cap of about $400. I considered another 8510, but I wonder if it will die a similar death. I would like some recommendations to consider. I was thinking about a macbook, but the cost is too high and all my projects are currently based in the windows world.

I don't use a ton of vsts so it's mostly audio tracks with the basics of EQ, compression, etc. track counts at most of 24. Don't need firewire.

Currently the front runner I have been considering is the Lenovo T61.

I've been out of the market for a while so I don't know what the current trends are for what to look for? So any advice is appreciated.

I'll give you a bump.....

IMO....
If you find a laptop you're comfortable with for that price I wouldn't settle for less than 4 gig of ram.
The audio interface will be an item of importance as the on board sound is not recommended.
USB audio interfaces can also be challenging and finicky.

I'm little help and will encourage you to think it through thoroughly along with suggestions from others here.

Good luck as I'm curious what current laptop configs will accommodate the needs of us recording musicians.

Carry on...

Yeah, I've recorded pretty extensively with my dying one and the importance of a good outboad audio interface can not be understated. Probably as critical as the laptop itself. But you are right it can be an ordeal getting it working properly. When you do, the best adage holds true, "If it ain't broke..."

I guess since firewire isn't a need for me, anything that's close in specs to my current one will probably do.

One big question I have, though is do the on-board video cards, i.e.: intel integrated whatever, still pose interrupt conflicts like they used to? Is it still better to have a discreet GPU? Or is that not so much a problem anymore?

One big question I have, though is do the on-board video cards, i.e.:

IMO....the video acceleration/IRQ conflicts are a thing of the past and is not something that I would be concerned with.
One does not need state of art video card for our purposes.

What we need (in the laptop world) is a sh!tload of memory, a reliable external audio interface with low latency and well written drivers that is proven with your OS of choice.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to guide you as to what is available now.

Hopefully you'll get other guidance from those that have made the jump to laptop recording.

Carry on....