We have the same problem here. Although Toshiba Satellite has been a good companion of mine for many years, I want to buy a faster laptop, and fresher of course. I was told that ASUS is good. I'm not sure if it really was THAT good as my friend says.
I appreciate everyone's input, although..it still doesn't make my decision any easier!! So many choices... LOL...
Have to throw my 2c in here... i swear by IBM thinkpads. I don't think too much of the new Lenovo ones, they still have to prove that they're maintaining IBM standards. I have an older thinkpad and I love it, have never bought anything but a thinkpad, and I hope this one lasts me long enough to figure out if the lenovo ones are as good because I'm addicted to the things dammit!!
We can also be bias from our experiences with them. Best thing to do is: go to your local electronics store : as an expert there. Hopefully they're not on commission
You really don't need that much RAM, you can quite easily get away with only 512MB of RAM. Regarding what laptop to buy, most of the time its personal preference which makes up the most part of what you should buy. Personally I bought a Novatech laptop, which isn't a particularly well known brand name, but it was cheap for what was in it and it works well. Hope that is of some help.