The brand is not as important as getting what you want/need out of it... my Uncle has used an Acer PC for a long time now, no problems. A few friends use Dell (eww, I just don't like the name)...no problems beyond the lack of abilities.
What I mean to say is, just ensure it has
1. good processor
2. plenty of RAM (1GB+ depending on what you're going to do with it) -- ensure the speeds here aren't cheapo, lots of the time they won't mention it and it'll end up being PC2200 (I'd go for 3200+).
3. good ol' graphics card
4. cd/dvd-rw depending on what you want..
5. big hdd
etc!
but to say if you were going to just do school papers on it...you could get by with a cheap laptop...easily... it's gaming/imaging that will get you.
What I mean to say is, just ensure it has
1. good processor
2. plenty of RAM (1GB+ depending on what you're going to do with it) -- ensure the speeds here aren't cheapo, lots of the time they won't mention it and it'll end up being PC2200 (I'd go for 3200+).
3. good ol' graphics card
4. cd/dvd-rw depending on what you want..
5. big hdd
etc!
but to say if you were going to just do school papers on it...you could get by with a cheap laptop...easily... it's gaming/imaging that will get you.