Quote Originally Posted by Sean View Post
That's $600 US o.o;;

I just did a quick pricing on a decent "gaming" laptop from hewlett packard and wound up at $764 US. 15.4" monitor, GeForce GO 8400GM, 1GB RAM.

The reason I spent so much on mine is the 17" widescreen display, HDMI output, 8600 GO, 2GB DDR2 RAM, and a few other "high end" things.
Online? Despite people saying they can get systems cheaper online, I've found it's best to go into into stores and look around. Sometimes they sell laptops dirt cheap when they only have a few of the model left, and sometimes they're just cheaper. Like the Acer Extensa 5220 for example. It's advertised as being $749 (Australian), but I know I can get it for $499 at the computer store a couple suburbs down, or $450 if I paid cash.

Yeah, it's not that good by today's standards [ Acer Computer Australia - Product Introduction Text ], but it's just one example of the savings I seem to find in stores. Generally, if I stick around my area, it takes around 2-3 weeks before a nicer machine drops into my target range.