Here's the thing, we are going to need a lot more information.
1. What do you plan to use the laptop for?
This will help determine what specs are going to be best for you.
2. Are you stuck on having a laptop?
Laptops are a terrible inconvenience. They aren't completely upgradeable, you are stuck with whatever you buy, and they tend to break easy. I highly suggest a desktop if you can. However, laptops are easier to move about, so it really depends on your situation.
3. Are you going to be gaming?
Games become graphics and ram heavy with exponential growth, so that will greatly help determine what specs.
4. What is your price range?
Obvious answer.
5. Are you comfortable with ordering off the internet?
Places like
Newegg are great places to look for deals. But, you have to be very careful when ordering off the internet. There are a lot of shotty deals trust me; I dabble in Affiliate Marketing.
6. What experience do you have with computers?
If you have little to no experience with computers, stay away from linux. You can always dual boot or run it on a virtual machine to gain experience. You really don't want to deal with that hassle. Windows is a great place for the everyday computer illeterate or novice as it has lots of support from
here. Stay away from Macintosh, not because of the big controversy, but because of the big virus shit storm that will happen to Mac's soon.
7. How long do you want your computer to last?
Quality costs more.
8. Do you plan to store a lot of information on your computer?
Specs.
9. Do you do any video editing?
Specs, also helps with OS decision.
10. Are you a quick learner or a dedicated learner?
OS decision.
11. Do you give up easily?
OS decision.
12. (Optional) If under the age of 18, are your parents buying it for you?
You don't want to mess up a computer that your parents just bought for you, so I would suggest getting a machine that has great support.
Answer all these questions, and you might see some "good" opinions rolling in.
-- Sat Jun 09, 2012 6:45 am --
Btw, this thread would either go in the "general" forum. or "hardware" forum.
A broken clock is right twice a day, however, I am neither up that early nor up that late...