I know 2 people that bought the G550 last year. It's alright. basic, and functional, good build quality. You can probably get sleeker and more stylish laptops but I would recommend IBM/Lenovo I have an X31 which must be 7 year old still going strong. Somewhere was selling a G550 with 4GB ram 500GB hd and a Core2 processer for around £400 - not sure if it was special deal or what but it seems to be good value.