My wife travels with a 4GB RAM model like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ2NC2602 which was on sale in the price range you gave. The only thing I did was swap in some SSD to make it fly a little higher. It works very well.
Your list is the run of the mill models but I'd skip the Atom powered models.
I hope this is the correct area to post.
I have never purchase a computer before. I had the same computer for many years that was given to me, a desktop HP that was a ''Frankenstein'' of different parts. It served me well till it died one day, I still haven't been able to get what I need to see if I can retrieve all my photos from the hard drive... I have been without my own computer for over a year now. I can borrow a family members laptop at times but that is very inconvenient and I don't like doing that so even though financial things are very tight I need to get one of my own. Iv been seriously looking for about 5 months but really no closer to a decision. :/
Budget wise I want to spend as little as possible but I also don't want to get something that's total junk. I also think I need to buy some kind of external storage? If I can recover files from my old hard drive I will literally have thousands of photographs etc. that I probably shouldn't bog down a new computer with....so that will be another expense on top of the actual laptop.
Iv mostly been looking on amazon and walmart at laptops like these:
http://www.walmart.com/browse/electronics/laptops-powered-by-intel/3944_3951_1089430_1230091_1120539?sort=price_low&cat_id=3944_3951_1089430_1230091_1120539&facet=condition:New||operating_system:Microsoft%20Windows||operating_system:Windows%207||operating_system:Windows%208||ram_memory_general:12GB%20%26%20Up||ram_memory_general:4GB||ram_memory_general:6GB||ram_memory_general:8GB||screen_size_laptop:15%22%20-%2016%22||screen_size_laptop:17%22%20%26%20Larger||operating_system:Windows%2010
The computer I borrow is a laptop - Toshiba Satellite C675, Intel Pentium B940 (2.00 GHz), 4 GB Memory, can read/write cds, dvds etc. It's a very large screen, I could do a little smaller if it meant cheaper. I know it's not a top of the line but it seems sufficient so I was considering something similar to this?
This would basically be a desktop replacement for me but not a dream computer or anything because it's more of - I need it as a necessity. I know I want windows OS.
Things I do on the computer:
Important things: Pay bills, browse web, writing - the basics.
Things for fun- watch movies, edit photos (nothing crazy, just GIMP for fun), play games (again, just simple stuff like facebook games, word games, nancy drew it's not a priority and I hardly have time now)
Any suggestions on good deals? I feel like I'm definitely looking at the more modest computers but they can't be so ''lite'' that the can only browse the web. Iv been looking and comparing for ages and I'm just not sure what to get anymore!

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic