I bought a used Lenovo 2½ years ago for 299 GBP and it is marvelous. Quad core, 128Gb SSD, DVD (reader only) so bought external for 30GBP which I can use on the other 3 PCs. It had 3 months to run on factory warranty!
The thing was: my local computer shop only sells used PCs he would chose for himself and for Laptops that is mostly Lenovo.

On a curious aside I have an eSATAp 1Tb external also which doubles as USB3 (Laptop only has eSATAp which is equivalent but about 3/4 speed of USB3) so I would recommend getting USB3 if possible and avoid Win8 (or even Win 10 just yet). Win7 Pro is the best option still, IMNSHO.