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Finding a cheap laptop can be an incredibly daunting task, because what got left out to get to that price is always in the back of your mind. The Acer Aspire AS5742-6475 ($599.99 list at Tiger Direct) isn't fully-loaded, but it's a sweet deal because it made the fewest sacrifices among its peers. It comes with a high-end Core i3 processor,HP battery 500GB of storage, and has over 5 hours of battery life—features you would normally find on a bigger budget. For this reason, it's the new Editors' Choice in the budget laptop category.

Design
I won't bother defending the AS5742-6475's looks because this is not a love-at-first-sight laptop.Apple battery The all-black chassis is meant to blend right in with your living room or office furniture. You won't find any traces of gloss, streaks of colors, or decorative patterns, unlike the Dell Inspiron iM501R-1655MRB ($649.99 list, 3 stars) and Asus K52F-A1 ($679.99 list, 3.5 stars),Lenovo battery which put more thought into their designs. Its top is textured, though, which lessens the possibility of fingerprints or smudeges. At 5 pounds, the AS5742-6475 is one of the lightest 15-inch laptops. Its lighter than the Asus K52F-A1 (5.8 lbs), Dell M501R -1655MRB (5.6 lbs), and Sony VAIO VPC-EB33FM/BJ ($629.99 list, 4.5 stars) (5.4 lbs).

The 15.6-inch widescreen is spacious and easy on the eyes.Dell battery Its 1,366-by-768 resolution is as high as a budget laptop will go, but it's more than adequate for office work and media consumption. The keyboard is made up of large, island-style keys that, when typed on, felt firm and satisfying. In addition, there's an adjacent numeric keypad with full size number keys. Not a fan of the island-style keys? The Lenovo G560-0679AKU ($599 list, 4 stars) ships with a traditional keyboard, albeit with a very numeric keypad.Sony battery The mouse buttons aren't resistant, so the clicking experience was enjoyable. And the dragging experience is pleasant, as the touchpad is wide and responsive.

Features
The AS5742-6475 doesn't have a sizable advantage in the features department,Acer laptop battery except that it's cheaper than its rivals. It comes with an ample 500GB hard drive, matching the capacity found in the Sony EB33FM/BJ and Lenovo G560-0679AKU. Ports and slots are what you would expect from a $600 laptop: It comes with 3 USB 2.0 ports, VGA, Ethernet, a Webcam, and a multimedia card reader. An HDMI port is on the left side, allowing you to run an HDMI cable to an HDTV, say,Asus laptop battery if you want to stream a Netflix DVD from the built-in DVD burner. For wireless connectivity, there's 802.11n Wi-Fi, but no Bluetooth.

Buyers purchasing through Tiger Direct can pick up additional protection for their laptop by purchasing one of Tiger Direct's extended service plans, which start at $134.98. A 3-year plan covering accidental damage is also available for $249.98.

Performance

The components are what make the AS5742-6475 worth its weight in gold.Fujitsu It comes with the highest-clocked 2.53GHz Intel Core i3-380M processor, which grabbed top scores in Cinebench R11.5 (2.1) and Handbrake (3:02)—tests which simulate video editing and running immensely huge, complicated spreadsheets. It can run Adobe Photoshop CS5. In fact, it finished our CS5 scripts (5:35) faster than the Asus K52F-A1 (5:38), Dell M501R-1655MRB (7:42), and Sony EB33FM/BJ (5:39).Apple If that's not convincing, PCMark Vantage, a test that utilizes all the core parts of the laptop, tallied the highest score (5,639). It's running integrated graphics, though, so I would lay off of the games.

The 48WH battery isn't particularly big compared with its peers, but the AS5742-6475 made the most out of it.HP On the MobileMark 2007 battery test, it just broke the 5 hour mark (5:01), beating the Sony EB33FM/BJ (4:33) by about a half an hour. It convincingly beat the Lenovo G560-0679AKU (3:28) by an hour and a half.

Those looking for a high-tech laptop will appreciate what the Acer Aspire AS5742-6475 has to offer. It's not the most tricked out laptop, but it comes with a great processor, ample features, and very good battery life.Asus It can be that primary laptop for a computer novice or secondary one for the family