Guys I can't say thanks enough for all the suggestions.I keep hearing about Dell and it seems thats the direction I might as well take, just for the peace of mind of having it being able to get serviced here if need be. I sent a message to UWI regarding the dell laptops but the discounts aren't that much and I would have to wait much longer to receive the laptop. I've been able to sacrifice certain things and cut costs at certain corners...(and beg..oh begging....) and now I'm within the 500-800 price range. So now I'm looking at the Dell inspirion 15r, which covers all my basic needs and is quite attractive to me at this point, or their XPS series which I'm wondering about. Would it be better to spend more and venture into the XPS line, or just go with the 15r?
Is there local support for Asus?