$500 laptop

Alright I'm trying to find a laptop around $400-$500 because my girlfriends grandpa wants to buy it for her grandma. So I went to newegg and found an HP which I will not buy because of previous complications with HP and because it has a Celeron in it lol. But I also found this one it's an Everex VA2001T http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834280001
and I don't know if it's any good or not, but all the rest available on newegg are recertified Gateways and I don't want to get her a recertified one. But I looked at Everex's warranty policy and it's for a year so it's pretty standard.

All the laptop will be used for those is web surfing and office programs so I think that this should run fine for her and be all that she needs for a while. Also there is the Dell Inspiron 1501 which is $499 before shipping and it's definitely not as good as the Everex but I'm really not sure what to get her so any opinions about what kind of laptop to get her or anything would be great, but the price cap is a firm $500 before shipping. Oh and I also looked at the Asus $300 laptop on newegg but that screen size wouldn't cut it for her she needs at least a 15.4" screen.

I would stay away from no name brands.

Personaly I like HP. Never had a problem with them.

Dell IMO has gone downhill bigtime so wont buy anything from them with exception of flat panels.

Since you have an issue with HP you may want to check out Acer.

STAY AWAY FROM EVEREX.

Pm my old roommate on here "tetran" (send him an IM instead of a PM, he will respond faster).

Basically:
Screws fell out. No joke, literally fell out of the laptop. We took it apart and that is seriously the cheapest brand I have ever seen/used.

I'll point him to this thread, I'll also see if I can find that other thread....sec...


EDIT: Found his post:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=523139

Hmm alright well thanks for the info about the Everex, I'll keep looking around then. The reason that I will not go with HP is because I had something very similar happen to me with an HP and their customer service about it was very poor. So I have sworn off all HP buying lol. But I'll keep looking around for laptops I guess, and about buying an Acer, I currently have one that I love to death it's a Travelmate 4400 and it's one of the best laptops I've used, other than a macbook or Lenovo, but I just haven't found any for $500 before shipping.

Edit: Alright I found a Toshiba at Frys.com for $499 http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5379158?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG and I had a Toshiba as my first laptop and it was awesome but just checking to see if anybody has heard anything bad about this one or if there might be a better deal out there for one. And I also found an Acer for $525 but I don't know if I would be able to talk them into it or not and here's the link for it http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006271 but the Toshiba looks to be a better computer between the specs of them.

Toshiba has a Turion X2 laptop that sells for under $550 and actually performs pretty darn well for the price , i forget the model number offhand but will look when i get in to work today.