Dell IM5030 is it a good choice?

Well, since im in the market for a new laptop, i want down to best buy to check out some of the options. i tried out every single laptop with the following conclusions:
1. this is the laptop i love and its within my price range and i like it:
Model: IM5030-874B3D Best Buy SKU: 1696564
2. i dont want an HP, they all feel like crap and last time i bought an HP it sucked.
3. Toshiba has some good offerings
4. Gateways are ugly

now, i really like the DELL, here are the specs:
-3GB RAM
-320GB HDD
-AMD Dual-Core
-15.6" LCD

anybody have an opinion on this? I need to order it at best buy.

here is some additional info:

1. What is your budget? $500 including taxes and fees

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? medium sized

3. What screen resolution do you want? at least 1366 x whatever

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? i dont care if its big, but nothing too tiny.

5. How much battery life do you need? 2 hrs but i dont really care

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? yes if it can game great but i think the best gfx card i can buy in a laptop for my price range is radeon 4250 or intel 4500

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)web, dvds, photos, web design, light gaming, pretty much everything

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 250gb or more

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. i need to be able to get it at the local best buy

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? hopefully at least 3 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need?DVDRW DL

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. NO HP!!! other than that i dont care.

13. What country do you live in? San Rafael, California, USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.--> Ask for it!

Hello shovenose;

Dell Inspiron IM5030-3413B3D reveiw @ PCMag

@ Staples via the website: Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 15.6-in Core i3 2.53GHz @ $500
Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 @ PCPerspective

I don't think its that bad.
I've handled the same laptop @ Bestbuy. PCMag is holding it against a higher standard found in other laptops is what I think.

I've also handled the Lenovo Z560. It's Core i3 CPU is about a notch and a half above the slightly underpowered P340 in the Dell. It also have a pretty awesome keyboard IMO.

Passmark CPU benchmarks:
AMD Athlon II P340 = 1300
Intel Core i3 380M @ 2.53GHz = 2260

Intel Core2 Duo T5800 @ 2.00GHz 1150
Intel Core2 Duo E4600 @ 2.40GHz 1378 (desktop)
Intel Core2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz 1607

In case your curious for about other comparions
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/ - use the Searchable database

ok, so the CPU is this laptop is better than the t5800 i had in my HP i had (broke, the thing was crap)...
well, what can i look for to know about noise and cooling performance?

by the way, thank you for being so helpful, i really appreciate this.

I check the Fry's website but didn't see anything that looked like it was worth a road trip.
But I think their stock changes more frequently than the big box stores and they sometimes have a refurb unit that can be a good deal.
Walmart looks like a dry hole but they did have $478 Acer 15.6" Aspire Turion X2 Dual-Core P520 Processor & Blu-Ray Disc Drive, HD 4250 graphics. Too bad it wasnt the HD 5470 video card instead.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-AS5551-4200/14575795

Without a good independent review I don't know of anyway to judge the relative performance of the cooling and noise.

Here is a good example of the type of review I'd like to see. Review Acer Aspire 5742G Notebook (GT 540M)

Some review sites:
http://www.notebookcheck.com
http://www.notebookreview.com
http://www.laptopmag.com

what do you think of the acer laptop uniquename suggested?
(i still like the dell)

A Pentium 6200 is faster than an Athlon II P360. HD4250 is a bit better than Intel HD but neither graphics solution will allow gaming on anything other than low if that.

i found a few others that interest me (all at the best buy site)
Model: K52FRF-BBR9 | SKU: 2070175
Model: G62-455DX | SKU: 1917062 (only issue is its an hp and it has intel 4500 gfx)

nevermind the $450 budget. i think its ok if its a little more, now that im selling some of my many other old computers i can buy something a little better.

that msi looks nice. but do they have it for that price at the office depot store? There is one rigth by my house...