Which laptop to purchase?

I'm currently using an i7 Toshiba laptop and this is the fifth year. As I was using this laptop from the second year onward, it often give me blue screen and recently, the laptop started to total shut down without any signs or anything at all. It's like as though electric cut off kind of shut down. The power button is no longer working and I have to use another method (touching the touch panel on the keyboard) to switch it on.

I am looking for another laptop and below are what I use the laptop for:-
1. MS SQL and Visual Studio for development during free time
2. MS Office (Words, Excel, PowerPoint and Visio)
3. e-Sword
4. Surfing the Internet
5. Plays music and movies

I am planning to get another i7 and I would like to seek your advise which brand would be good for me? Should I get another Toshiba or consider an Asus or something else?

Get a Hewlett-Packard..

After being a Mac user for 10 years, I bought an HP last year and I love it. Great brand in my experience so far .

Really? I don't have much confidence with HP though...

HP is one of the best brands out there..I've never heard of Asus. And my desktop is an HP.. works perfectly.

I would research it for the type of things you mentioned that you use it for and check out how much you are willing to spend and definitely get reviews to help with your choice.

*Lynx adjusts his nerd glasses and prepares to dissert:

First, about your current laptop: Toshibas are great. Unfortunately there are two different kinds of Toshibas - real Toshibas and the cheap things Wal-Mart sells. It's like they took really cheap computers made from some other company and slapped the Toshiba name on them. That's how different the two kinds of Toshibas are.

Second, about HP, Acer, and the like: Avoid them like the plague. If it is at Wal-Mart, it is there for a reason - basically because it is cheap. For hardware failure rates during the first three years, HP has the highest rate. Acer is right up there though. They both used to be good companies, but their products' reliability has lately gone downhill. And Dell is now owned by Acer, and Dell computers now have Acer quality. Kinda sad really. You might get lucky and get a laptop that lasts five years. Or it could break in a year and a half.

Third, what I would get: Personally I like ThinkPads. I'm typing on one now. Every ThinkPad I have ever owned is still running. They look like something from 1998 but they seem to work and just keep on working. And my ThinkPads can pick up wifi signals other laptops can't even see. Considering what you are going to use it for, you can get one off-lease that easily meets your requirements for about $150 or so. Look for a ThinkPad T500.

Fourth, don't focus too much on the processor. Sure an Intel Atom is pokey, but research the differences between I3, I5 and I7 before you spend a lot of money. Most people who get an I7 will never use the functions an I7 allows.

Here's one with 8 gigs memory and an i5 processor for $200. That was the first result my search pulled up. You can probably get about the same for less money if you spend a bit of time looking.

Lenovo ThinkPad T420 Laptop Core i5 2 5GHz 8GB 320GB DVD RW Windows 7 Pro Webcam | eBay

Here's a T510 with an i5 processor and 4 gigs ram for $155.

Lenovo ThinkPad T510 i5 520M 2 4GHz 4GB RAM 320GB HD 15 6in 1366x768 | eBay

My 2nd desktop was a HP, no problemo. Talking about HP not desktop's. I have an iPad, but never owned a laptop.

I'm sure Fiorina fixed HP real good hehe.

i pretty much agree with Lynx ↑

ThinkPad would be a Lenovo, like i said i decided they are among the best out there.

i don't know anything about lower-end HP's. maybe there is some disparity between them and the top-end models too, like Toshibas & a lot of other brands. but i've got nothing negative to say about my HP at all, but like i said, this is one of the very best machines they made, for when i bought it.

what he said about processors is pretty true too. not a lot of programs make use of multiple cores, and unless you're a die-hard gamer worried about every tenth of a frame rate, or inverting a lot of very large & sparse matrices (hee-hee), you'll probably never notice the difference.

My first laptop was also a Toshiba, lasted me for 7 years and I bought another Toshiba after that as I needed a laptop that will last me for a long time and also able to meet my expectations. In my current job, I'm using a Lenovo and had not have much satisfaction like my Toshiba. I also like the Toshiba's sound system and I spend quite a fair bit on laptops. I'm also looking for a laptop with screen size >= 15'.

The laptops I'm considering right now are as follows:-
1. Toshiba P50t https://pc.toshiba-asia.com/my/notebook/personal/satellite/P50t
2. Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga ThinkPad Yoga | 12.5" Business Multimode Ultrabook | Lenovo (MY)
3. HP Envy 15 Notebook PC (Touch) HP ENVY 15 Notebook PC (Touch) - HP Store Malaysia

OK, if it's HP, I can consider No. 3.

This is a bit of a side-rail..lol..and forgive my ignorance, but are notebooks the same as laptops? Are they better/worse? Good or bad to use? How long do they last? Are they more/less expensive than laptops?

In Malaysia, we see both laptops and notebooks the same. I need a complete mobile PC to carry around. It has to come with at least 4 USB Ports and also a CD ROM (to burn CD or to play any CDs whenever required and of course, be able to play DVD and BlueRay will be highly desired). My current Toshiba laptop is able to play 3D movies as well. How much do I spend on my past laptop and current laptop? OK, converting to USD, I spend about USD 1,100.

Convert that into American dollars..lol..

American Dollars about 1, 100.00

The HP Envy 15 Notebook looks really sleek and pretty! I'm falling in love with it. I don't want to use a MAC because there's a lot of compatibility issues to consider.

Whoops! I just now noticed the OP is not in the USA. Um... hehe... sorry, ebay shipping might not go there.

JustViv, Asus is still a pretty reliable brand. I'm using an Asus laptop for my primary music computer right now.

I would also mention that SquareTrade reliability ratings for 2015 put Asus as the most reliable of the major brands. Toshiba is right behind them.