On the hunt for a laptop...

[Slaughter]

If there is one thing I hate, it's laptop shopping.

Essential usage: Photo editing (nothing fancy), Movie playback - light gaming (Old school games)

My budget is $600 Pre tax just to make it easy.

This is what I've found so far that kinda catches my eye.

I have located this laptop for $599. Anyone know of something similar or better in that range? 15-17".

NCIX.com - Buy Hewlett Packard HP DV7-4063CA AMD Phenom II X3 N830 4GB 640GB Radeon 5650 17.3IN Win 7 HP Notebook - HP Consumer - WQ869UA#ABC - in Canada

Microprocessor 2.1GHz VISION Technology from AMD - Ultimate with AMD Phenom II Triple-Core Mobile Processor N830
Microprocessor Cache 1.5MB L2 Cache
Memory 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 DIMM)
Memory Max 8GB
Video Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 s
Video Memory itchable graphics
Hard Drive 640GB (5400RPM)
Multimedia Drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
Display 17.3” diagonal High Definition+ HP BrightView LED Display (1600 x 900)
Network Card Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Wireless Connectivity
802.11b/g/n WLAN
Bluetooth
Sound
Beats Audio and HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer
Keyboard 101-key compatible with island-style full-size keyboard with integrated numeric keypad
Pointing Device HP ClickPad with On/Off button
External Ports
5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 4th port shared with eSATA
1 HDMI
1 eSATA + USB 2.0
1 VGA (15-pin)
1 RJ -45 (LAN)
1 Headphone-out
1 Microphone-in
Dimensions 16.35" (W) x 10.8" (D) x 1.25" (min H)/1.46" (max H)
Weight 8.19 Lbs
Security
Kensington MicroSaver lock slot
Power-on password
Accepts 3rd party security lock devices
Power
90W AC Adapter
9-Cell 93WHr Lithium-Ion Battery

[sswilson]

Did you check out FS this week? They had some absolutely amazing prices on sub $600 laptops.

[Slaughter]

I took a quick look and nothing seems to match the performance of the N830 and 5650 1gb video. Some have better cpu's, but integrated video. None seem to have a better gpu.