You get what you pay for, that's not to say the more expensive laptops are actually any better, however being a family that has been through many over the years here are my thoughts.
HP, Toshiba and Sony make great laptops the Sony though while quality built is a little overpriced. make sure your cpu is at least an i5 preferably an i7, buy in the range of $800 to $1200 and you should always be happy.
Note: Laptops last from 2 to 3 years if your expecting more you don't understand the industry, they want you to upgrade
If you want something better you need a desktop, desktops are your basic leggo kit, you get a tower and you slide in your parts, you can build these yourself quite cheaply if you are tek savvy you will get 5 to 7 years use from a desktop, it also runs faster as you can get a lot more grunt for the same amount of money and when it begins to die, take the guts out and put in new parts wallah !! a new computer at half the price.
Apple is a great computer especially if you are into graphic arts, however you have to buy all software for an apple, no online freebies or apps to help you out here, if money is not an issue go for it, otherwise pretty much everything in the $1200 to $2500 range will make you happy
