Buying a new laptop

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I have roughly $460 to spend right now (and might be able to get a couple hundred maybe from my mom since it's for school) what kind of laptop should I look at? When I get my return it'll be much higher but I'm going of for school and might need that money..

I want good space (but planning on an external Hard Drive so not needed)
Must have good speed and the ability to handle online games like on Steam (half life 2) is a bonus
Good Graphics card so I can play some games nothing super high end just playable

Must be Windows b/c mac's aren't compatible with what I use
and XP or Vista nothing older

I'm looking mostly at refurbished and used laptops b/c they are better I think (not new but higher end and lower price)

any ideas? oh and I can't really browse the net b/c my comp is cruddy and cuts off so that's basically why I'm posting this thx...

With $460, you're not going to buy much. Save up your money a bit longer, then go out and buy from a place that will build the computer. Ask if you can get a student discount as well, some places will give you that if you have some sort of student identification.

KingOfKaboom,
am sorry do not understand the money or numbers side,but highly recommend having a look for the Toshiba Equium,these are the lowest in the toshiba range-the entry levels,but are extremely sturdy [own one has been through many a meltdown,seizure and trashing and come through it fine,apart from the hard drive and tracking pad having to get replaced],well built,very fast etc,. the only problem have had had with them was the silver paint on the inside wearing off after a bit but that doesnt change the overall quality.
problem with low and mid range laptops is the graphics cards are usually not good for average modern gaming [not med-high settings] ,especially intel based gpu,or low end atis or geforces.

dells are also sturdy,decent laptops [if they sell to the US].

Your going to have a hard time finding anything acceptable for everything your looking for with that budget. When I got my computer, I had a similar budget, almost everything I saw at that price range has integrated graphics and as a result would be absolutely horible for gaming.

That said, you might want to look at the Dell Vostro lineup. I seem to remember that if you went with one of those and customized it a bit, you could get a geforce 8400(back when that was a decent card) in your price range. This was a while back, so things could have improved since(or gotten more expensive)

EDIT: Just realized you werent looking for something that could play high end stuff and specificly said hl2. In this case, pretty much anything on the market would most likely work as long as its not a netbook. However, if you get an integrated graphics card, your framerate might jump around alot(for example, a few minutes at 30fps, then a drop to 15FPS, then up to 20... etc.)

When you buy one you will want to get a warranty, anti virus, and make sure it has volume control.