a little bit over your budget, but i purchased one of this a few months ago.
http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=7559
i didnt get it from MSY, i actualy got it from a local computer store, for less then the MSY price, and with 8gb ram.
its the fastest thing ive ever used. the other day i had 5 A0 PS files open (document size, apprantly 300mb each what ever that means), two instances of archicad, artlantis rendering, and it still made no difference to me using word and firefox.
cant believe how quick and cheap laptops are these days. my little dell cost almost double this, and isnt even near an 1/6 capable. it is 3 years old through.
to top it all off, for a 16inch laptop, i get about 4 hours of general computing with out a charge.
Its one down fall is, it is VERY plasticy, i came from a 12inch dell, which was all aluminum, i get very worried im going to smash the casing when its in my bag. ah and the charger plug is on the rear of the laptop... stupid design, defiantly going to snap it off one day.
EDIT: should add, i got this the week the i7 gen 2, were released, and this was the only laptop i could get that had them. i notice now, every brand seems to have a similar spec in the same price range. wish i had waited, a bit longer to get one i actually liked the look off, but i needed one that week!
