http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215120
That's probably the best bang you're gonna get in a laptop for $500.
It's quad core and has a decent video card.
If I was to fulfil your i3/i5 wet dream, your video card would be an integrated Intel HD, which absolutely suck, and you'd only have 2 cores. They are more expensive computers that you should only aim for in the $700-$1000 price range.
Thanks! I'm not a hard-core gamer, but I wanted something that runs games without loss of FPS.
This should work.
