Sub $500 laptop recommendation

This

Was looking for something in store. That looks good but I need it tomorrow at the latest

Really? Why?

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People give 1-2 stars just because stuff like "Windows 8 Sucks arse", "Does not come with DVD Drive."

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Hate that crap. Goes both ways too... I've seen 5 star reviews from customers who haven't even bought the product yet. They just say "It looks great! Can't wait! 5 stars!"

This rule could be applied to most products in general, but it's especially true for PCs I find. For one thing, people are stupid, and computers are easy to frick up. Reviews are always written with emotion behind them. Very few people who are neutrally satisfied with a product are going to make the effort to write a review. You have to be either exceptionally overwhelmed by the unexpectedly high quality of a product, or pissed off about something. Notice how most customer reviews are either all or nothing -- perfect 5 stars or 1 star. The tell-tale sign of a moron: When the review mentions the phrase "nothing but problems" and gives very few supporting details. It means the customer fricked up something and got flustered in several clumsy attempts to correct it. I've seen so many 1-star reviews bitching about overly sensitive track pads, screens that are too bright, WiFi that won't connect to their home network but works on their neighbors just fine, power supply too bulky, or they're expecting too much performance for the specs (gaming on Intel HD 4000, for example).

Second, inevitably there will be a 1-star review that says, "I have no idea if it's a good laptop or not because it arrived DOA! I emailed ASUS/HP/Dell/Acer/Lenovo/etc. for a replacement. Hopefully second time's a charm!" You might call that a legitimate review, but all it means is something decided to fail internally between the last shutdown and the next startup. Literally zero PC makers are immune to spontaneous component failure despite extensive QA checks, and they all get their components from the same places. Just because one laptop has a DOA review and another one doesn't means nothing in terms of reliability.

And overall, the review system is often misused. They'll use it to bitch about the vendor's slow shipping, a customer service call that didn't go well, a bad rebate experience, general fanboy trolling, or something else that has nothing to do with the quality of the product. On the flip side, 5-star reviews can be just as stupid. People who don't own the product, company shills balancing out the negatives, or just general "I like that the keyboard has lights lol5stars."

I distinctly remember a poster here who initially rejected my PC recommendation based on the reviews. I walked him through every single negative review to show that 100% of them were invalid. It was only 3 or 4 bad reviews, but because there weren't many reviews of the product, they dragged down the overall rating significantly. So, if you search only for 4 or 5-star products, you eliminate virtually everything but the products that are lucky to haven't yet been shite on by a stupid, pissed-off customer.

If you're going to make a purchase based on customer rating, you absolutely must read and evaluate the reviews. Sometimes you'll find some totally legitimate issues that multiple reviewers point out. Most of the time, you'll just find garbage.

EDIT: Most of this is summarized by posters above, but I was already typing this out, so I decided to just finish it.

Forgot this gem:

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First time using a non-Intel device, so it just seems slower to me

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100% of those reviews are invalid.

Yeah I originally sorted by ratings but noticed it wasn't the best method.

Gonna swing by and check out the lower end toshibas, lenovos and acers today

I picked up a little 14" Toshiba from Best Buy a few months ago and love it. I think it was $499. No touch screen, but metal case, backlit keyboard etc.
They have cheaper versions as well. I think pretty much any of the Toshiba, Asus, Acer budget laptops at Best Buy will be fine. Just pick one you like. In that price point there isn't much difference quality wise IMO.