[Solved] Core i3 2310m or A6-3400m for <$600 laptop

Hi all,
I am looking to buy a new laptop for ~$600 or less. It is an upgrade from a 1000HE EEEpc and my hope is to get more mainstream performance out of it. I need it for general computing/internet/video watching but will not be doing any gaming on it. I prefer 11-14" form factor for portability and would love to get ~5 hr+ battery life.

Is an HP Probook 4430s better than a Toshiba P745D-S4240 for general computing, internet use, and watching HD video?

More generally, should I try to go after an i3-2310m with HD3000 graphics or an A6-3400 within this budget? Which is better when games are not being considered?

Thanks

The toshiba is clearly the better laptop of the two, hence it having higher price.

But if you're looking to save money I think the HP will do fine for your tasks.

Is the A6 only better if a gaming workload is included, or is it just flat out better?

I don't think the weight is a big deal - I carry my laptop around in a backpack full of books anyways.

I wasn't worried about the HDD capacity (in 2 years, I have only used ~70 GB of my EEEpc's 160 GB) - would the 7200 rpm 320GB drive be noticeably faster than the 5400 rpm drive?

The extra 2 GB of ram is kind of nice (although you can get 8GB of ram for ~$50!)... I think I am leaning towards the toshiba but just want to make sure I'm not throwing away $90 since I won't be gaming.

Thanks for the thoughts!!

In terms of processing performance, the Core i3 is better than the A6.

However, for games, the A6 will be better overall because of the better graphics core. But in games that are more CPU bound than GPU bound, the Core i3 will perform better.