Alright, thanks for the advice.

For those saying "build your own": Thanks for the input, but no, that's not happening. I have plenty of hobbies, computers are just a tool for me. Also I have ZERO interest in any kind of desktop computer. Laptops are nice because they are self contained - I'm not connecting monitors, keyboards, and having to have multiple power sources. I got rid of my last desktop computer in 2003 and I doubt I'll ever have another one.

WRT the drive, SSD vs. HDD: I know the bigger HDDs can be super slow, and that kind of makes sense.

Some of the laptops offer both a SSD and an HDD. I do have a lot of music files (well over 60gb) and tons of photos. For those with experience, would a computer with, say, a 256gb SSD + a backup external 1tb SSD be a good combo? Would the newer USB 3 be fast enough for an external SSD to be significantly faster than an external HDD?