First Laptop ^-^

[Kesarra]

Some pricing info for you: www.lenovo.com/cpp
Code is: familyandfriends

The T500 (with ATI graphics) seems pretty good and is roughly $200 cheaper by way of the CPP program. It says contractor, but many people use it that are definitely not contractors. If you're lucky a 10-15% coupon may appear in the future.

[Aurifer]

$1000? You can get an amazing machine, nowadays. I'm thinking quad-core with 4GB RAM, and so.

I'd stay away from Dell and HP, but of course they do have some good systems. My dad had an HP, and it lasted at least seven years. I think all it needs is a system scrub.

Keep in mind that computers now are on several cusps. DDR3 is available, but it's only to be found in high-end systems, for now. USB 3.0 will be coming out within the next couple years, but I don't suppose it's soon enough to wait for. Windows 7 is out at the end of this year or the beginning of next, but you can probably upgrade easily enough. Solid-State drives are making waves, with higher speeds than HDDs and prices that are no longer exorbitant. OLED displays are purportedly only a year or two away, as well.
It might be prudent to buy a cheaper system ($600 or so) just to tide you over for the next two years. Once all this stuff is through, within the next three or four years, I'd expect them to keep that way for another four or so years after that, during which time you can go all-out.