I'm trying to find a good one in the $300-$500 rage. My brother bought a very good one HP pavilion dv7 for $400 in his trip to NY, amazon seems much pricier than that
$300-$500 does not seem the range for a "good" notebook... more like for a budget model.... even what you might call "el-cheapo". You'd likely have better luck in that price range looking for a used machine with better specs.
Try dealnews.com for bargains, some nice machines on there, but they normally only have a few so they sell fast.