So I ended up going with the Lenovo G50 (AMD A6-6310, 4Gb RAM, 1Tb HDD, Win 8.1) since at this price point ($336) the AMD actually offered similar CPU performance but a much better GPU. First impressions out of the box, the case looks and feels VERY cheap but that's to be expected for such a cheap laptop. The screen is fairly low res at 1366x768 and it's pretty noticeable next to a 1920x1080 screen. At higher brightness settings the colors kinda get washed out but at half brightness it looks much better.
The thing that impresses me the most is the performance. If I didnt know any better I would say it was hard to tell the difference between this laptop and my desktop with an overlocked i5 in terms of surfing the web, opening/closing programs, etc. The sound on this thing is pretty killer, says Dolby Digital sound on it, I had the volume at 50% and walked into the other room and could still it hear it clearly.
Overall i'd say this is a fantastic choice for a laptop in the $350 price range. I would buy one of their higher end laptops if I were in the market.
Edit: Still wish it had Win 7 instead of 8. The lack a proper start menu is just pathetic. I had to install one that makes it look like Win 7.
post edited by blacksapphire08 - 2014/11/28 17:55:54