I will not answer the “good deal” aspect of your question, as I have no idea of the laptop market on your side of the Atlantic. But what I can say is that I steer away from HP in general nowadays:
The good HP laptops are great. But they suffer a little from the Adidas syndrome, making them pricey just because of the brand name. The HP pavilion from 15-20 years ago was amazing. Good hardware, good build quality, incredible audio. I owned 3 or 4 of them. The only laptop with which I’ve been more satisfied is my current non-HP daily driver.
…but their cheaper line has always been awful in every respect.
Their business oriented laptops are pretty good, but Dell is just as good if not better.
I will not answer the “good deal” aspect of your question, as I have no idea of the laptop market on your side of the Atlantic. But what I can say is that I steer away from HP in general nowadays: