Looking for decent priced laptop - preferably lightweight

[shyam09]

I gave my dad my 2010 13" Macbook Pro, so I'm looking for a laptop now. I don't want to spend as much - keeping my budget in the $500-$600 (max would probably be $650, including taxes - I'm in California, so either coupons at Staples or Best Buy or buying at a tax-less place like BH Photo...)

I don't really use laptops for gaming or video editing -- I leave that to my desktop. My main use for a laptop would be web browsing, writing stuff, movies/videos, etc. I don't use a laptop all too much unless of course I'm travelling or am out of the house for a large part of the day.

I'm just left a bit confused over what laptop I should be getting (since I'll be sticking with it for roughly another 4-5 years). I'm really intrigued by ultrabooks, but those are fairly expensive and the only worthwhile one I've noticed is the recent Dell XPS 13", but the lowest I could find is $830 w/ no taxes.

Are there any recommendations for laptops? I'm just browsing around right now; I might end up buying during Labor Day weekend or wait a bit longer -- but I'm trying to find out some good laptops to look at. I don't want an Apple product, I'd much rather prefer Windows. I'm hoping for a high res. display for a 13" / 14" laptop.

If it helps any, I can get student discounts too.

 

[rhysiam]

It's pretty hard to go past the Asus UX305 if your budget can stretch to it.

The CoreM is hardly the fastest processor, but it's got a proper 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM and a (not terrible) IPS 1080P screen which is basically unheard of for other laptops in its price range.

Anandtech reviewed it here if you're interested (it turns out I almost quoted a part of teh conclusion of their review above... but I wrote my bit first I promise!): http://www.anandtech.com/show/9104/asus-zenbook-ux305-review/7

It'll be around the very top end of your budget, but if you want a portable general-purpose ultrabook like laptop, it's pretty hard to beat IMHO.