There are basically three kinds of laptop makers. The first make laptops that are expensive, luxurious, lightweight, well-built and hard-wearing. These are durable, rugged machines that wont get damaged by everyday wear and tear.

In the next category down, there are normal laptops mid-range, mid-price, middle of the road. You get what you pay for, no more, no less, but theyre well-made and do the job perfectly fine.

Then, at the bottom of the market, you have cheap laptops that are, to be frank, completely crappy. Theyre heavy, unwieldy, and fall apart at the least provocation.

Which category you choose to shop in is up to you, although Id strongly recommend against the last one! To make your decision, though, you need to know which brand belongs where.

At the top, in the luxury sector, youll find Toshiba, Samsung, Sony (Vaio) and Apple, as well as the IBM Thinkpads that are now sold by Lenovo. These machines can all be outrageously expensive, but at the same time, worth it if youve got the money.

In the mid-range, youll find Fujitsu, Acer, and HP/Compaq HP and Compaq still brand their computers separately, but they are basically the same machines. A few of the cheapest Apple machines also belong in this category, such as the iBook.

Finally, at the bottom, youll find Dell, as well as a bunch of off-brand clone machines (some argue that Gateway also belong in this category, but its borderline). If you know whats good for you, avoid them. Unfortunately, the fact that Dell makes the cheapest laptops means that huge numbers of people have them. If youre not convinced that a cheap laptop could ever be bad, ask a few people that you see around using them Im sure theyll tell you that they wish theyd bought something else.