Recommend laptop

[Phil]

I know this is a frequent question, however it hasn't been asked for awhile and I'm completely overwhelmed with choice.

I've owned two ASUS laptops, both died after developing intermittent faults within four years. I was given an MSI CR620 but it has now developed an intermittent keyboard fault. I was also given a Toshiba A100 and this has been totally reliable but it's frustratingly slow under Xubuntu. I'm not sure about HP laptops. They are the cheapest of the bunch, but how long will they last?

I'm not looking for high specs. I3 or better, optical drive, bluetooth, wi-fi, a screen that's easy on the eyes (this is important) and not too expensive ($1000, preferably less).

Any suggestions?

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Regards,
Phil