I have been using my ACER laptop ( Aspire 5004NWLMi ) the last 5 years, quite happy with the performance and stability. Just did an upgrade initially from 256 MB to 768 MB, and that almost kept the wheels running till date. I strongly recommend ACER machines, they are value your money. Cheap doesn’t always means bad in quality :) You won’t never need to worry about this machine if you give enough care for keeping it well and good. Keyboard can be a problem area (sometimes) since the keys can sometimes move out (as happened in my case, but later fixed from support team).