It all depends on what you want to do with it... If you want to play any games then make sure you get a notebook with either the radeon 7500 or the GeForce4 Go graphics chipset. If you are going to use it on the road then battery life and weight are perhaps the most important factors - make sure you get a mobile processor if you want a long battery life. If you're someone who likes style over substance, and you can't live with an ugly notebook, then your best bet is Sony. If you want reliability then Toshiba have always been the best in my view. Finally, if you want cheap then you're best going with one of the smaller OEM suppliers - (one of which I work for).