IMO, Great Quality has questionable quality. The exterior feels like cheap plastic to me--not very durable.
For $499, wait for deals from Compusa and bestbuy. I believe they just had a sale on a laptop with a whole lot of free stuff (printer, router, etc.) for the same price. I believe it was a Toshiba, which is really reliable. With prices on laptops dropping so much recently, it will only be a matter of time before prices hit <$500.