Going back to school!

Okay, so, i'm in high school, and i need a good laptop to do my school work on. I haven't bought a laptop in a while (never actually), so i need a little bit of help. I need some light video/audio editing power available to me for one of my classes at school, so that's why i'm coming here. My budget is about $500, and i'd like a screen no larger than 16inches and no smaller than 14. I think i have a good laptop put together from HP for the cost, but if someone can give me a better/equal laptop from another brand for the same price, PLEASE do, as i've had bad luck with HP in the past.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...w&email_id=1670271&jumpid=in_r329_emailconfig

Configure one on Dell, i hear their customer service is top notch and a lot of my instructors in college used the XPS's. Which probably means their low-end laptops ($500 range) are probably decent enough. They also bought Alienware if you ever decide to configure something flashy, just keep in mind its Dell =)

I did look around on Dell, but i can't find much in my price range... i'll look again though, because i would much rather a Dell honestly.

I've had bad luck with HP laptops. It's all i can seem to find lately though :/

EDIT: So after shopping around, i can't find any other brands that give me anything close to this in specs... i went ahead and dropped the HDMI and changed the CPU to the turion as it uses less power, but so far, this seems to be the only one that can do what i need for the price i need...

Well the video editing can't be that intensive in high school can it ? I bought a $2200 custom laptop from Sager when I went to a private college for 3D. Can't expect a whole lot of horse power for $500 in the laptop world I'm afraid, that how much a decent netbook runs. That was no more than 3 yrs ago when I was 17, I graduated early so I got to enroll early.

Personally and honestly? My dell mini 9 works magic, its the same size as a textbook and does everything I need to do while in class etc. If I need to do a report or some other intensive typing project. I use a desktop either in the school or at home

Yeah you seem to have quite the desktop for someone in highschool, why not do this editing at home ?

decoste007xt said:

Well the video editing can't be that intensive in high school can it ? I bought a $2200 custom laptop from Sager when I went to a private college for 3D. Can't expect a whole lot of horse power for $500 in the laptop world I'm afraid, that how much a decent netbook runs. That was no more than 3 yrs ago when I was 17, I graduated early so I got to enroll early.

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I'm not expecting it to. The chances of even a 720p video coming across is pretty slim. I just need something that can do some editing at school.

jstutman said:

Personally and honestly? My dell mini 9 works magic, its the same size as a textbook and does everything I need to do while in class etc. If I need to do a report or some other intensive typing project. I use a desktop either in the school or at home

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I had an HP Mini. While i loved the idea, it was just a little too small for me. I am considering some of the larger netbooks as possible though.

decoste007xt said:

Yeah you seem to have quite the desktop for someone in highschool, why not do this editing at home ?

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See, i love this idea! But, alas, i'm in Humanities, and Yearbook Staff, so i'll need my own computer to do a lot of my work on at school. We do have computers labs, but it's extremely rare that both classes can get into a lab at the same time, and the "mobile lab" (35 laptops) doesn't have the software that either class uses on it.

I got by with a Dell latitude D620 and just did the heavy work on my desktop at home through remote desktop connection from my dorm