Do NOT at all costs get an eMachines/Acer/Gateway. Avoid them at all costs. Take it from someone who has had at least 3 notebooks and desktops from all 3 companies. Toshiba/HP is what I would buy on a PC, but I mostly recommend Apple Mac's if you have a big budget. Here is a good laptop in your budget though. Toshiba Satellite® L855D-S5220 15.6" widescreen Laptop (Silver) | Laptops | Computers | us.toshiba.com
AMD Quad-Core A8-4500M Accelerated Processor
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), SP1
AMD Radeon™ HD 7640G
6GB DDR3 1600MHz memory
640GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial ATA)

Originally Posted by windows8

It seems as if all of the newer laptops are 64bit?

With most computers except netbooks being 3.0 GB + In RAM, it's the only way to go. If you have more than 4GB RAM, you need x64.

Originally Posted by windows8

I know, I was thinking about editing nearly that exact phrase into my comment, but was too lazy.

I don't see many other laptops out there besides HP atm. Everyone loves cheap computers

There is always tiger direct barebones kits. Dirt cheap. Like this one GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2P AMD 760 AM3+ Motherboard and AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz Quad-Core BE CPU OEM and Cooler Master AM2 / AM3 CPU Cooler and Sony Optiarc AD7280S-OB 24x DVDRW Drive and ADATA Bundle at TigerDirect.com
Not much else you have to add.

Originally Posted by ubunturules

Originally Posted by windows8

I know, I was thinking about editing nearly that exact phrase into my comment, but was too lazy.

I don't see many other laptops out there besides HP atm. Everyone loves cheap computers

There is always tiger direct barebones kits. Dirt cheap. Like this one GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2P AMD 760 AM3+ Motherboard and AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz Quad-Core BE CPU OEM and Cooler Master AM2 / AM3 CPU Cooler and Sony Optiarc AD7280S-OB 24x DVDRW Drive and ADATA Bundle at TigerDirect.com
Not much else you have to add.

Kind of a big laptop. LOL

Originally Posted by windows8

It seems as if all of the newer laptops are 64bit?

32bit is out the door. Most systems today have more than 4GB of RAM and then you need 64bit. Besides, the 64bit Windows7 is more stable because of the certified drivers.