Hey everybody! I'm getting to the point where I'm about to buy a turntable, but I simply can't buy the best one, such as the Vestax QFO, for financial reasons right now. I also want to avoid going cheap. As John Steventon points out in chapter 5 of "djing for dummies," It's better to go with turntables with direct drive motors instead of belt driven ones. Given that I'll most likely buy off of the internet, I've got to be able to spot this. So what should I be looking for and looking out for?

I'm pretty sure thats a big important feature, so it should be listed in the specs and description, maybe even in the title, only thing I dont understand is why do manual turn tables exist?

Almost all makers of turntables will put in the listing if it is Direct drive or belt drive.
You can browse the wares of techniques, numark, stanton, vestax and gemini all on their own websites to get the most accurate info.

A great starter table though, is the Numark TT200.  It is direct drive, is really solid and has the same torque as the Techniques.   All this can be had for around $199. 

I bought a pair about 8 years ago, and they are still working great today.