HP Pavilion g7-2124nr Notebook PC

This is only $615.39 on the HP store if you are a student.

This laptop successfully does everything I need it to do:

Video Chat on GChat

Stream Breaking Bad from NetFlix

Play BluRay Quality movies on my 46" Television (via HDMI)

The main tradeoff is that it's huge. So, It's ridiculous to take anywhere outside your home. But, the plus side of its size is the high resolution. So, you have enough room on your screen to have two windows split the foreground.

Compared to the most popular computer in the market, the 13" Macbook Pro:

Same CPU

6GB vs. 4GB (Memory)

640GB vs. 500 GB (Disk)

17.3" vs. 13.3" (Screen)

1600x900 vs 1280x800 (Resolution)

Same Resolution Webcam

$729.99 vs. $1,199.99 (Price without discounts)

It meets or beats all of the main specs of the best-selling MacBook Pro, which serves as a good benchmark for a standard computer these days, does everything an average computer user uses a computer for, and you can get it for $615 to $729 depending on whether you go to school or not.