Truthfully, I'd recommend finding a Best Buy or somesuch and actually trying out a floor model or two. That was you can get a feel for the machine itself rather than blindly buying off the internets... keyboard size and layout can be subtle annoyances, as are headphone jack locations, etc.
I have a lot of HP machines right now, and while I am generally satisfied, there are issues I have dealt with in the past that are peculiar to HP or specific models-- the G72-series have very large screens, but little support for those screens, so they can be broken easily, for example. The DV-2000 series overheats easily, and the hard drive resides right under your left hand, which can cause major discomfort when typing on a unit that has been running (and accessing the drive) for a while.
