[quote name='gamesterx23']I run a computer repair facility and I have never, ever come across a problem even remotely similar to this. Every single laptop (sans netbooks) that I've seen with problems has been a $500-$1500 laptop - every single time.
You can't attribute one bad experience to everything. . . .[/QUOTE]
i've had plenty of bad experiences with cheap laptops, that was just one. While I agree, these days laptops dont seem to be made nearly as well as they used to be (I've seen tons of 2 year old HP's and Dell come in with bad boards or other critical hardware problems) but saying you usually see problems with $500-$1500 laptops is sort of a misleading statement...because 95% of laptops fall into this price range. i was simply saying any SUPER cheap laptops are usually just that. these days a decent laptop can be had for 600-800 brand new pretty easily. if thats out of your price range then going used or refurb and isn't a bad idea. newer netbooks with dual core Atom chips actually perform pretty decent for average tasks. (if you can find one with the nvidia ion graphics chip, even better)
I'm a big fan of Asus laptops, Sony's are a close 2nd as well. Msi is another great brand that most people don't think of when coming to laptops (they make great motherboards) The newer toshibas don't seem as bad as the old ones, but i've seen far too many overheating toshibas to recommend them...maybe if they keep it up for another year or 2. Although with most brands, they have low end, entry level units and higher end units...hopefully quality control is better on the higher end ones.
good luck in your search, if I come across any laptops i think fit your needs I'll try to come back and post a recommendation.