You'd love mine.
1TB hard drive, 16GB of memory, quad-core Intel i7 with hyperthreading (so it's effectively an 8-core machine), 15" screen, 1920x1080 resolution. It's got a hefty NVidia GeForce graphics card in it too. This thing processes 150MB TIFF files faster than its predecessor handled 20MB files. It really is a beast. The power supply alone is rated at something like 19V and 10A ( the power supply for my laptop is bigger and heavier than my wife's old Asus Eee)
Except for the price. It was, er, a little more than $300.
Truth be told except for the touchscreen issue the kind of machine you're describing sounds like something you should be able to get used fairly cheaply, especially if you're willing to work with a desktop. If you're really worried about buying online why not get a prepaid visa card and just load it with the money for whatever you're wanting to buy?