Asus brand. I'm not that familiar with them, but the reviews seem to be decent. And I think for 4GB's of RAM and a 500GB HD, the price is pretty good.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Pentium%26%23174%3B+Processor+-+Vintage+Brown/9700741.p?id=1218152460142&skuId=9700741

I'm looking for something in the $500-$700 range. My primary uses are simple things like internet surfing, listening to music, etc. That said, I want something that should be relatively future-proof and won't be obsolete too soon.

Godofhardcore wrote:

Asus is a good brand and very reliable. The only issue I'd have with that is the integrated Graphics. I recommend going to Toshiba and seeing what they can build for you. I can't say enough good things about Toshiba

Thanks. Can you elaborate on the "intergrated graphics" comment? I'm not very tech-savvy.

I was actually looking at a few Toshiba's, as I've heard good things. I was looking at this one in particular:

http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/satellite/A500/A505-S6980

But see how it says it's no longer available at stores, or on the website? WTF?