Unless you are sure you won't be playing any new games that may want a better video card, $500 is a bit low for a gaming laptop. That is the range of mainstream business and home systems.
For a gaming laptop, I would not get anything under an 860/960m, a 940m is OK but if you want to play something that comes out in 2 years that needs a faster card, you are stuck.
Did you also include the money you may get for selling your current system? A working laptop in good shape with an A6 CPU should get you about $200.