Maybe if you waited for more people to post... -_- You gave an extremely limited selection of manufacturers to choose from. That's like asking which the best filehost is and mention only 4 or 5 of them. Just because they manufacturers say so doesn't mean they ARE the #1, #2 or whatever manufacturer in the world. That's just advertise and you fell for it.
Also, the price range is completely unreal. I doubt that there are any half-assed laptops for less than $800. Usually stuff under $1200 is complete crap. You don't get a lot for the money you pay. i.e. My current roommate bought a laptop a few weeks ago for $900 and it's meh. I wouldn't give that kind of money for a laptop like that. I'd rather pay $1400-$1600 for a reasonably good one. Usually the overpriced stuff like $2000 and higher is either stuff from HP which you can get for less money from another manufacturer or it has a hardware configuration which differs from the $1500 price models by 10%, maybe 20%. i.e. You get 20GB more HDD, 1GB more RAM and a better graphic card. That's throwing away money. You can get giant external harddrives for a low price (300GB for $200?). RAM is cheap as ever (1GB for $40-$60, that's about the price in my country). And a better graphic card? If you're not a hardcore gamer who needs it, better leave it be.