buying a new laptop

[cinda]

I have looked at many laptops in the last 6 month. I bought three each were different but gear toward the person needs. I bought an acer a Sony and a Toshiba. I would say being a young guy your looking for speed and storage. I would just compared the two to the price and buy the best deal. Aways ask if they will honor another stores sale. Staples will and they Will call the store for you too. A store like radio shack will not honnor others prices but look at their prices somethings that store will suprise you. I bought the toshiba for myself.

[AK & Stogie]

I am currently working on my Acer. I like it, and they make a really good product for the price.
Something to think about, the single v. dual core processor issue. I went dual core, but sacrificed a little speed for more multi tasking ability. If you are into high end games, you will want something fast, and with AT LEAST 1GB of RAM. In this day and age however, nobody should have any less than that.
I would recommend stuff with AMD processors, but the Intels have come a long way.
And do not fall into thinking you need a huge screen. Anything over 15.4 is overkill, and you WILL hate lugging it around. Otherwise, 1gb RAM, processor as needed, and DVD+_ RW drive to burn DVD's is nice. HD Capacity is your call too.
Shop around.