In my opinion it makes little difference which brand you choose from at the price range you are considering. All brands offer similar products with minor differences in specs. The major differences between each brand are the monitors, each brand sources there own and some are better then others and, laptop ergonomics, some are **** house and some are just weird, you should really try before you buy. I agree that having a keypad is great but only if you use it regularly otherwise its not worth the premium for the increase in specs that are associated with it.
The things you need to consider when buying a laptop should be (but aren't limited too):
-monitor size (the bigger the heavier)
-processing power vs battery life (no point being able to run the world if it only lasts 10mins)
-graphics (some have cards others don't, depends what you need)
-hard drive capacity (do you need heaps, sata drives, or a little, SSD drives)
-available ports (can be affected by the motherboard you choose but the more USB and display out puts the better)
-upgradability, I would always up the ram and battery pack and maybe the HDD if you need it but bigger HDD's in laptops are generally slower
I would have no problems (yes I have or do own something from all brands) buying any HP, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, MSI, Acer or Alienware (weight.....) and all come with risks in terms of hardware quality. What needs to be remembered is generally a hardware fault is not associated with the brands but more the hardware makers. Most don't make the motherboards that go into the machines so you can't fault them if you get a lemon every now and then.
While I will never convince the fan boys I personally don't like apple anything. They are overpriced, under spec'd, and nothing I use will run on it. OOO and I don't generally do what a man wearing a black shirt and jeans tells me too..................
(jokes guys)
(or is it)
Keep in mind this is purely MY OPINION and may be wrong in others eyes.
