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As I mentioned in another thread, my family is in the market for a new laptop.  I have done a bit of research, but at this point I'm in over my head tech-wise.

Things I know:
I want a laptop
I want to spend less than $400
I want a 17 inch monitor
I want 4 GB of RAM
I want at least 320 GB of HD space

Things I don't know:
How to choose between processors (ie. AMD, Intel, dual-core, i3, pentium, etc.)
How important it is to have a HDMI port
How important it is to have a HD that reads at the faster 7200 speed
How important it is to have Bluetooth
How important are discreet graphics
How important is it to buy new vs. refurbished (or used on ebay)

Things I don't care about:
Weight (it won't be moving too often)
Looks (I'm not going for style points)
Battery life (it'll be plugged in most of the time)
Brand (unless it matters for some functional reason)

I have already found some options from Sears, Frys, New Egg, another New Egg, and a bunch from Best Buy

Can anyone help me out?

Here's what you'll need:

I am in the market, too. My understanding of processors is that Celeron/Atom represent the lowest quality, while the i3/i5/i7 represent the modern generation of Intel top-quality processors.
The latter series also comes with turbo boosting additions. The AMD series may be roughly equivalent in speed to the Intel processors, but they are considered a "generic brand" much like Equate for medicine. You will generally find that the cheapest laptops use AMD or Atom/Celeron. Anything that uses the i-series is considered above average. The first generation of the i-series is the i3, but the second generation i-series would be preferable, if affordable. That would put you on the leading edge, rather than "cheaper because they're older."

You can add all the RAM and video graphics you want, but if the processor does not keep up with the times, then the computer will run slow. However, I agree with Kopp that if you can get a separate video card (rather than integrated graphics) you will be much happier, even if you don't do a lot of video gaming. It will make DVDs run better, and make live streaming more fluid.

No AMD is not "generic" they cost less because AMD doesn't spend money on advertising  compared to Intel that spends millions on ads. Intel is the established but that doesn't make AMD generic.

I think you misunderstood my use of the word "generic." I actually use Equate and "store brands" all the time, and in some cases I prefer them. I stated that AMD processors run equivalent speeds as Intel. Therefore, the AMD Phenom is roughly equivalent to the i-series. AMD is simply cheaper in price, like generic brands.

Your chances of getting a 17" screen for 400 dollars or less and NOT having it be a low quality laptop are low.

I agree with the Anti-Apple here. Why is 17" so important? 15.6" screens are not that much smaller.

Discrete graphics are all you're going to get for that price point, graphics cards are one of the more expensive parts of any computer and having a dedicated card already puts you over 400 no matter what your other part choices are.

Once again I agree. Video cards usually bump the base price by around $100.

For the most part now a days your Processor is rarely going to be your limiting factor. almost all of the processors on the market outpace the limitation that arise. RAM is the limiting factor for most people, and for anyone that works with video and games it's your graphics card. for example my desktop computer is 4 years old now but the processor in can go toe to toe with any of the modern processors. (It's an AMD Phenom first generation quad core) but my video card can barely handle league of legends which is not a graphically intense game.

However, I would guess you paid much more than $400 for that computer at the time. 

For $400, the processors will be older generations (like Celeron) and therefore will not be able to run well with modern software for very long.

What I've learned from this thread about graphics:

Discreet or built-in graphics are pretty terrible if you want to do any video or 3D gaming

Really?  This review at cnet seemed to think that discreet graphics were sufficient for video and gaming.  Are they wrong when they say, "The majority of desktop replacement laptops have discrete graphics cards, either for help in playing HD video or for running 3D games."

if you can get a separate video card (rather than integrated graphics) you will be much happier, even if you don't do a lot of video gaming. It will make DVDs run better, and make live streaming more fluid.

Is this "separate video card you speak of the same thing as "discreet" graphics?

Discrete graphics are all you're going to get for that price point, graphics cards are one of the more expensive parts of any computer and having a dedicated card already puts you over 400 no matter what your other part choices are.

In short your gonna have to make a decision. If you want a 17" screen, your going to have a slower machine for the price you want. If you want a graphics card for movies games and live streaming than just throw out the price point now.

This makes me think that "graphics card" and "discreet graphics" are 2 separate things.  Can someone help me to know what to look for to see whether there is a graphics card or not?

Most of the laptops I've been looking at have graphics listed as either:
Intel HD
Intel® HD Graphics 3000 with up to 1696MB Dynamic Video Memory
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
AMD Radeon HD 6480G discrete-class

Misc. thoughts on Hard Drives, RAM, and HDMI:

Bluetooth is not important. For everyday computing having the faster hard drive speed is not that big of an issue, the difference will be negligible for most common tasks. 320 GB of Space will go fast if you do anything more than internet and word documents and such.

Thanks for the info on the Bluetooth and the 7200 speed HD.  As for the size of the HD, I'm not worried about that at all considering I have a 1TB external HD.

RAM is the limiting factor for most people

Do you think 4GB will be enough to last me for the next several years?

Also does anyone have any thoughts on how important it is to have an HDMI port?

There are three levels of graphics processors:
Integrated. Just... avoid these at all costs. (is this what the "Intel HD" ones are?)
Discrete. These are a step up, but still are pretty bad for video intensive stuff.
Dedicated. This is what you want if you plan to do anything video or 3D. (how do I know if a laptop has this?)

Quote from: Prof Underwood on November 25, 2011, 11:52:40 PM

Most of the laptops I've been looking at have graphics listed as either:
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
AMD Radeon HD 6480G discrete-class

I'm not familiar with ATI / AMD's way numbering system

According to Wikipedia, the first two are older cards (Jan & May 2010), but the 6480G just came out in Jun 2011.  Is that probably good enough to last me for several years?

Of the graphics processors you listed only the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 is a dedicated card and is therefore your best option for good graphics, but again we run in to the price problem. ATI cards (a subdivision of AMD) will have cheaper cards but they still drive up the price. As for the hdmi port, do you have now or plan to get an HDTV with HDMI input? if the answer is no than you don't need an HDMI port. If the answer is yes than do you want to be able to hook your computer up to the tv and watch movies or just generally use your computer on your tv? if the answer is no than again you don't need one. If the answer is yes, than we have a problem. If you have or plan to get a display of 22" or less then you'll be okayish. If you plan to get a TV bigger than that and want to use any kind of actual HD than we come back to the issue of a video card. fact is that onboard graphics will not be able to power your tv. they aren't built for things like that, and the laptop will overheat quickly. Discrete graphics will handle standard definition but thats it. A dedicated card is the only thing that will be able to power HD on the tv. which leads us back to dedicated cards often being expensive.

As for processors, Ghz is not always better. newer processors sometimes have lower Ghz but handle processes more gracefully making more efficient use of the speed they have. Any multicore processor is going to be better than a single core, the more cores the better. AMD Phenom II processors are AMD's "equivalent" (personally i think they're better) of Intels core processors (i3 i5 i7) but where they actually rank on that list depends on their model number, so if you could provide that it would be helpful. leaving the phenons off the list for now the processor ranking looks like..

Intel Pentium 6100 2.0GHz lol
Intel® Pentium® 2.13 GHz lol again
Intel Pentium dual-core P6100 2.0GHz best option among the cheaps
AMD A4-Series 1.9GHz (with Turbo CORE up to 2.5GHz)
Intel Core i3-350M 2.26GHz
Intel® Core™ i3 2.4 GHz
AMD VISION A4 APU 1.9GHz (with Turbo CORE up to 2.5GHz) (do I look at the base or the turbo speed)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i3-2330M Processor, 2.2GHz, 3MB L3 Cache (what is a L3 Cache?)

why is the slower i3 better than the faster ones? it's all about that "2nd generation" part and the L3 cache. L3 cache means better multitasking, it;s basically RAM built right in to the CPU. the more Cache, the less the CPU has to go over to the RAM to retrieve what it's looking for which improves performance. There were also a number of chances put in place when the 2nd gen of intel Core processors were released. The AMD Vision comes in a close second, only because I don't know how many cores t has. VISION technology is a great leap forward, it basically means theres a mini (albeit not great) graphics card built right in to the processor. Its not anything to write home about but when combined with an ATI card it can do wonders.

The second model has the best processor on this list it's a quad core were as all the others are dual core at most and has the vision tech. Built in. The only problem with that model is that it does have on board graphics but really as long as you aren't a gamer it will do fine when you combine the on board hd graphics with the vision processor.
As far as how we know hear things the only one I knew off hand was the ati graphics card the rest google is now and always will be your friend. Google the model number and usually the first result will tell you all you need to know

For my part, the refurbished aspect bothers me more than any of these other factors.  Some people have probably had better luck with this than I, but I have never bought a refurbished piece of hardware that I did not subsequently return defective.  Not one.

Honestly, I think out of all the things you mentioned, the 17in. monitor is probably going to kill you the most on available options, with the probable exception of a dedicated graphics card.  Frankly, I was surprised that you found ANYthing with that size monitor, new, at that price point.

My general take on this is that laptop prices have been plummeting so fast that, barring the two significant factors I just mentioned, you can basically name your own price and get a decent laptop.  Whereas not even five years ago it could be said that you couldn't get a laptop worth owning for under a thousand dollars, now you can walk into your big box store and pay full retail, and have a hard time finding ANY (PC) laptop that will cost you OVER a thousand dollars.

For example, I am typing this response on my HP Pavilion g4 series laptop that I just picked up three months ago for something like $350.  Aside from having a 14-inch monitor, it meets every one of your required specs.  Despite sporting an onboard graphics chip, I have played titles like Portal 2, DC Universe Online and the Bioware space-themed shooter/RPG which shall remain nameless, without any significant (to me) loss of performance.

So while the technical arguments to the type of graphics processor, the number of cores, etc are correct on their face, it's my observation that the hardware is surging upward in power and downward in price at a speed where, for the user to tax the system or be required to invest heavily in the laptop for reasons other than heavy-duty case construction, they'd need to be doing some hardcore adobe work (video editing, 3d modeling, large-scale graphics editing) or playing games with the latest Crytek engine or whatever.

In other words, you asked for my educated insight at a time when, as laptops go, I don't really think it matters any longer.

Wow, so all this tech is way out of my league but I can offer my own personal experince in the purchasing of a laptop. I have a Dell  Inspiron with an intel core i5 and  a 17 inch screen that I purchased for around 700 because it had a such a big screen. If your willing to go with a 15 inch screen that knocks off at about 200. It seems in the world of laptops you can get a great machine for around 500 regardless of make, but I am sure someone wil correct me on this

That, and I consider their Vision line to be a better purchase than their Turion processors, though some might call it six of one, half-dozen of the other.

I just wanted to thank everyone for their helpful advice and assisting me in choosing the next laptop for my family.  I feel like I learned a LOT from this process, and I feel really good about the product that I ended up getting.  In case you're interested it is this one:

HP - Pavilion Laptop g7-1257dx
Intel 2nd Generation Dual Core i3-2330M 2.2GHz (with 3MB cache on level 3)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 (which is supposed to be comparable or better than the AMD Radeon 5450)
17.3 inch monitor
500 GB HD
4 GB RAM
HDMI output
3 USB ports, 1 media card reader
DVD R+W, CD R+W
6 cell battery
multi-gesture support touchpad
and best of all, for a price of: $379.99

I am thankful to God for blessing us with such a great deal on a really great machine.  I look forward to years of good use from it in the future