Looking for a replacement notebook, $600 budget, need recommendations?

My HP Pavilion m6-1035dx laptop died on me, it was dropped, I believe it needs a new hdd however I'm inexperienced when it comes to computers. I was told it'd be cheaper to just buy a new laptop versus purchasing a new 640GB hdd to replace. The HP is all dented, it just looks horrible cosmetically. I wish someone would just buy it as is and take if off my hands. I've been looking at replacements for months, with my 5yr taking my time up I just haven't had the time to compare new options. I wanted "laptop", however I'm not set on it having to be a laptop as convertibles are out and all types of new options.

I was looking for something similar to my HP above, but with a 1080p display, 500GB+ hdd, 8GB+ memory, w or w/o an optical drive, integrated webcam would be nice, backlit keyboard. Maybe something that could handle "light gaming" and "multimedia". I play PC games a few times a month, not hardcore by any means. However my previous laptop could play Skyrim without any issues and that laptop was far from being a beast so anything should be an upgrade over this laptop. I do light photo editing, Photoshop, Illustrator. Other than that I'll be using it basically for streaming, email, internet and so on.

I went to Best Buy about a week ago to check their clearance items and open-box items which are usually returns. All the laptops they have in that clearance isle where either too small, had scratches or whatnot, an none where 1080p. However, I found a Sony Vaio Flip 14A SVF14N13CXB Convertible, open box for $595.99, down from $899.99. I purchased it just to test it at home and give a look. I know nothing on it. Also, here is a Spec page from Sony. It has a 1080p display which I've read is hard to find for under $600. It's Windows 8 (8.1 upgrade), Touchscreen, 2 3.0 USB ports, HDMI, SD Slot(don't know if it works with all memory cards or not?), keyboard is back-lit and it's convertible which I'll probably never use. It came with a 500GB hdd which is only a 5200rpm (hdd is replaceable I believe?) but I have currently less then 400GB available, I assume I'd have to uninstall some bloatware that Sony/Windows installed. But even though I don't know how to remove and install a new hdd, I'm assuming a bigger & faster hdd would be better?

So far this "convertible" seems nice, I haven't be able to test it very much but it does looks beautiful, I like how thin it is, however it does get a tad hot and a little loud but nothing distracting. I have no clue what is under the hood, how old the CPU, etc. I have until January 15th to return it to Best Buy. I'm curious as if I got a deal on this or If I could find something else in the same price range but better? Best Buy told me that they don't even sell this laptop anymore, he said its discontinued and that they really never carry Sony laptops anymore which doesn't sound good to me. I just want an improvement over my old laptop and something that can last me for a few years.

What do you think I should do? I really need some good recommendations and comments, I'm not tech savvy at all, I just don't want to get robbed when purchasing my next replacement.

Thanks, hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Years!