As the resident tech dude, I'm prone to regular questioning about the latest electronics upgrades. With that said, there's one question I receive almost daily: "What laptop should I buy?" Even though so many different brands and models are out there on the market, few people really have a clue what they're looking at, or what they might need in a new laptop. For me, the three biggest factors in a laptop are power, speed, and price. Does it have enough hard drive space for all your files? Will it run everything you can throw at it? Most importantly, can you pay it off in a few paychecks or less? Those things are ultimately up to you, but if you're looking for something that surprisingly exceeds my staunch budget laptop expectations, this Acer Extensa Notebook is an excellent choice for almost anyone.

Featuring a super-fast 2.0ghz dual-core AMD processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM to load all your programs swiftly, and 120GB of hard drive space for all your movies, music, and games, this $450 Acer's impressive spec's belie its simple exterior and bargain price. Adding to its value are an included webcam and an ATI Radeon X1250 IGP graphics card that will play HD movies and many of yesterday's games with ease. While it's not a "true" gaming laptop in that it won't run the newest games on the highest settings imaginable, it should do better than many other sub-$800 notebooks thanks to its dedicated ATI graphics card. Since your laptop will probably be used for work and internet 90% of the time, this Acer Extensa laptop should be able to handle practically anything you throw at it, and look good while doing it.

Acer's laptops have been steadily getting better and better every year, and are among some of the best "value" laptops currently on the market. With an additional $150 off of their already low prices, this $450 Extensa is a downright steal. If you need a computer for less than $500, and appreciate little luxuries like free shipping and 2% Cash Back, I can't recommend this bad boy enough.