I have been using a Acer Travel Mate 4152 for 3 years now, I have found it reliable and when I bought it was what you call Value for Money (VFM) buy, so when a friend asked me to suggest a laptop with good specs and which doesnt break his bank account I suggested Acer Aspire 4710.

Now acer has revamped their design to a black exterior with rounded edges, some like it some dont, but according to me its nice and compact.Mind you there is also 4710Z with Intel Dual Core processor T2080/T2130. Here is a quick glance at this 4710 specs,

Intel Core 2 Duo T5270 (another model is available with T5300),Intel 945GM
chipset, 1GB DDR2 RAM,160GB HD, 14.1" WXGA TFT, Web cam, Bluetooth, 5 in 1 card
reader, USB port, Firewire port

The keypad was wellspaced out and in grey color, in my mind a pearl white interior would have made it more attractive. I found the 14" widescreen TFT to be Ok, not overly bright, the Dolby certified speakers was quite good but the volume was tad too soft. Acer provides you with a driver CD with drivers for Vista & XP(in some forums i have read it doesnt come with XP drivers) but it has only Linux preloaded to keep the cost down. This Aspire will suit students, small businessmen and those looking for a good laptop at a budget. Retailing around 36,000/- Rs. and the Operating System price is additional its a good bet or Dell Inspiron 1420 is also a nice alternative.