Best laptop to buy for $500

[dra011]

Right now I have 2 pcs, one of them is a Toshiba laptop a205 Satellite which is okay for now but I wanted something with a little more performance on video. I don't game on my computer. If I ponied up $550 in the next two months what would be the best laptop for the price?

 

[veg1992]

Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS5536-5883 NoteBook AMD Athlon X2 QL-64(2.10GHz) 15.6" 3GB Memory DDR2 667 320GB HDD DVD Super Multi ATI Radeon HD 3200 - Laptops / Notebooks
Newegg.com - lenovo G530-444635U NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T4200(2.00GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 2GB Memory 160GB HDD 5400rpm Dual layer DVD Burner Intel GMA 4500M - Laptops / Notebooks

Either are good, but based on what I've googled online your rig should be able to take it pretty decently.

Are you sure you are free of viruses and have free RAM?

 

[Jorsoft]

Why do you only want to spend $500 on a new laptop if you're looking for more video performance? If you can hold off for a couple more months and save a few hundred more you can get something considerably more powerful.

 

[Bomb Toaster]

For that price range, Dell, HP and Toshiba are good brands to look at.
Some Dell Insperons run at 499, and they're really good investments.