If you really want a new laptop there are so many things to consider. I believe you are fine buying one from any of the leading laptop manufacturers. The only thing I would look at from them is warranty differences. As an example, Costco will give you an extra year if you buy it with a American Express card.

Things to research and consider: You will no doubt get Win7 Home Edition. You will have to decide on a processor. Intel is the most expensive, then AMD and a celeron chip the cheapest. Dual core is better than single core. RAM is another one. If you run a 32bit processor the most RAM you can use is 4G. A 32bit can not use anymore. Get at least 2Gigs of RAM. How many USB ports do you need? What kind of ports do you need? Budget style notebooks often ship with only 2 USB ports, with no serial, parallel, or DVI ports and only a single VGA port (if a video port is even included). Screen size? How big can you afford? Integrated wireless and bluetooth is something to look at as well as if it has a track mouse. Lastly, Battery life is a critical consideration but not a deal breaker. When purchasing a laptop, if the only battery option doesn’t provide the lifespan you require, you can always buy a second battery.

Most of the salesman at reputable places like Staples or BestBuy are pretty good. Talking to them is free and telling them what you need the computer to do will be a good source of knowledge.

Good luck shopping