I get asked on a fairly regular basis what I would recommend, specification wise, on an inexpensive laptop computer. I thought I would note my general recommendations here.
If you are looking for a laptop with Windows Vista, a general rule of thumb is to get at least 2GB of RAM (more is better) and a dual-core processor.
If you want XP 1GB RAM is OK, and a single-core processor is OK, too, although a dual-core will, of course, be faster, and cost more. Note that, at this point, if you want XP you'll probably have to special order it, or purchase a refurbished system.
Don't buy anything labelled "Celeron" or "Sempron" — but "Centrino" is OK. Buy "Pentium", "X2", "Core" and "Core Duo".
As far as brands go, it's basically a toss up between Dell and Hp, buy whichever one you prefer.
Lenovo makes great laptops, but they can be a tad pricey.
I find it difficult to recommend Gateway, simply because their tech support has been lackluster every time I've had to contact them, which has been frequently, lately.
Mostly, these rules work OK for desktop systems, too.
