Actually, I've had very good luck with HP laptops. Used three of them over the years and they all lasted and had no major problems. Of course, I used the OS serial number to install a completely different software set up from scratch (I don't think they actually booted once before being reformatted).

I have a HP Pavillion dv6838TX - Great laptop and I think it may be in your price range now.. Got it over a year ago for $AU1299 (Although I got it pretty heavily discounted) Very sexy looking laptop too - Vera Wang designed.


PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T8100

CPU SPEED: 2.10 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB

HARD DRIVE: 250GB 5400RPM

MEMORY: 2048MB DDR2 (2 Dimms)

DISPLAY SIZE: 15.4\" WXGA High-Definition BrightView

RESOLUTION: 1280 x 800

VIDEO GRAPHICS: NVIDIA® GeForce 8400M GS

OPTICAL DRIVE: LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD±RW

AUDIO/SPEAKERS: Altec Lansing speakers

TYPE OF PORTS: 3 USB 2.0; VGA; HDMI; IEEE 1394

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows Vista® Home Premium

WEBCAM: Integrated HP Low Light VGA Webcam

MODEM: High speed 56K modem

BLUETOOTH: Bluetooth

NETWORKING: Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN

WIRELESS: Intel® PRO/Wireless 802.11a/b/g

ADDITIONAL FEATURES: Integrated HP Mobile Remote Control

BATTERY: 6-cell Li-Ion

DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT: 2.75kg

WARRANTY: 1Yr Standard HP Warranty

If you can get that or perhaps a model slightly lower for the price your looking at then you're onto a winner for sure. Also I'd never had a problem with HP so I don't know what that other guy was talking about


EDIT: Also I'll add the Windows Experience points it has

- Processor: 5.1

- Memory: 4.9

- Graphics: 3.5

- Gaming Graphics: 4.3

- Primary hard disk: 5.2

Do not buy ACER - I got given one for Christmas and have had nothing but grief. Their tech support took 3 months to reply with "We cannot help you" they clutter up your new computer by preinstalling so much junk on there. The build quality is shocking - broken harddrives, broken souncards, lappys making screeching sounds at random intervals.

I have purchased a couple Acer laptops and have had no problems with them. (Technically, my wife/daughter have had no trouble with them...) They do come preinstalled with a bunch of junk, but unfortunately so does every other major vendor's laptop.

The $649 Dell Studio 15 I mentioned offers two upgrade sound options
-Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy^TM Advanced HD Software Edition for $25 and  

 - ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card for ultra-realistic surround sound for $80

The Express card solution would work on any laptop with an express card interface but , surprisingly, Dell is a bargain because the card is on NewEgg for $89.99. There are also USB plug-ins, some cheaper but probably less powerful.

The Sound Blaster software improves audio somewhat but as far as I know is only available OEM.

Some multimedia notebooks have discrete audio cards and much better speakers but they are usually in the $1000+ category. The express card offers the most bang for the buck.