Best Laptop for under $550?

I'm looking to choose between these 3...

1.) Acer Aspire AS5536-5142 NoteBook

2.) Gateway NV5425u NoteBook

3.) HP Pavilion dm3-1030us NoteBook

Other suggestions are welcome as well..



I guess answering a few question wouldn't hurt either..

1_What is your budget? $550

2_What is the size of the notebook
that you are considering? Doesn't matter

3_What screen resolution do you want? Doesn't Matter

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Hard to tell..

5_How much battery life do you need? As much as possible..

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? Not really..

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.) A lot of MS Word, A lot of music streaming as well, little bit of MS Paint, Messaging, YouTubing, Flash games

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need? 150gb+ would be fine

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them. Amazon , also Newegg

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop? 4 Years


11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Dvd-Rom/Cd-Rom

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. I really don't have a preference, I am looking to stay away from Compaq however

13_What country do you live in? USA

14_Best laptop speakers $550 can buy if possible. I prefer processor power and batter life but this would be great as well.