Hi TS...
I am a Canon user and i still love my cameras alot...
But as I learned photography I have also come to like the Nikon D7000 cos i think its a good camera...
However, now that I am just abit more familiar with photography, cameras and brands etc, i learnt that there are other brands out there that has sooooo much more to offer that if you dun find out enough you might miss out on something better for the same price.... you know after I saw the reviews and test shots and i used my teacher's Sony A65, I am extremely impressed....ISO 12800, its like probably 6400 in some other good cameras... The Sony's A77 and A65 are often overlooked by the less informed and you may get alot more goodies for your money.... even the Nex 5 is amazing...
But, since you have a certain budget, i want to highlight the Pentax K-r, imho, its one of the BEST entry level camera in the department of noise performance and fps.. i mean if you compare all the cameras in the same price range, you get 6fps and very good noise performance at 6400, you get very clean pictures compare to competitors... It comes with a variety of colours and you know what? I saw it at mustafa last night, its alot cheaper than 600D... So i believe you might have the budget for it... (sorry modd im not sure if i am allowed to post the shop name etc, do forgive me and edit accordingly)... do go walk ard funan centre might be even cheaper....
I am not here to start a comparison chart or brand war... i am just sharing with ts my photography journey and all that i tell him is how i feel or found out with my limited knowledge and skills... i am still a newbie and still greenhorn in cameras.... but like him, i also chose the safe side (but one of the reason was cos my company owns 3 Canons and some lenses so i am familar with playing with the camera but i dunno what the heck is shutter speed and aperture cos i shoot in P mode then when i play with the cameras so i bought cos i get to borrow lenses and it was a safe choice...) but now that i understand abit more, i realise for the money, i had alot more choices that i didnt know of.... because i was still a noob in cameras etc so when i first went to look for cameras my colleague say nvm just buy any camera that comes with a kit lens and learn how to shoot dun worry too much about lenses and can upgrade next time.... so the first few places i went was Challenger and Harvey Norman, no prize for guessing which two brands the people tried to sell me and tell me that as a beginner i shld take one of these two and also cos they only carry mostly this two brands... so after haggling and reading then i decided to go with Canon ball only cos between that and this i got free lenses that i can borrow... i still dunno about Pentax or Sony cos i thought Pentax does film cameras (we used to have a compct pentax camera 20 yrs ago) and i know of Sony Nex, plus the salesman told me to 'just buy one of the two wont go wrong'...
and just begining of this year i went to the audio house near my office and i was shocked that the salesmen kept pushing Sony to me cos they say dun let this brand that is less popular to ignorant people fool you... its an awesome machine... that was how i got interested to see the reviews and later play with my teacher's camera that impresssed me as well... later i met a person from the US that has a K-r, press his camera abit and quite like it, google for K-r test shots, very nice btw... so i felt that all 4 brands are good and they all have good cameras and good technology, however some brands can give you alot more value for your money so dun overlook them yeah
Hope this info helps.... dun cancel out other brands to feel safer, but chew on it and give it a thought and go with what you think its best...
Good luck