I have a Toshiba laptop as well and have been pleased with mine. We've had a couple of Gateways that were so-so.

If you're looking for a deal, I say go to buy.com and look at their deals. I think that's what the tab is called - "Deals". You'll probably find something there that'll do just fine for $300 - $400 to get him through. It'll probably be a refurb but it will come with a warranty. If you find something you want, be sure to google around for a buy.com coupon code - they always seem to have them out there!

Looks like they have some $1000ish laptops for $500ish....

Buy.com - What's Shakin in Computers & Software

This one was $1,300 and can be had for $550:
HP Pavilion dv6910us Entertainment Notebook Dual-Core 2GHz - 15.4 WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen - 3GB DDR2 SDRAM - 200GB HDD - DVD-Writer (DVD-RAM/R/RW) - Fast Ethernet - Bluetooth Webcam Vista Home Premium Factory Refurbished - HPFE6