Personally, I HATEEEEE laptops. I have a dell inspiron 1501 that I got for 350 when my parents bought a lot of computers for the business but I never use it outside of school/business. They're just a huge waste of money! Here's probably the most valuable piece of advice when it comes to buying a laptop: in terms of how computer technology is developed, the average computing power (ram timing/speed, processor strength, hd size, etc) is less in laptop than what you would find for desktops (since it takes additional time to adapt technology for space/mobility constraints that you have with laptops). Meaning, when you buy a laptop, in a sense you are buying inferior technology. Further, in terms of innovation, most R&D is oriented towards making slimmer computers that run cooler and longer meaning that the gap in technology gets larger and larger. In my opinion, because laptops generally have shorter lifespans than desktops in terms of durability and quality, spending more money than you have to for a laptop is a complete waste of money. Shoot for something that you can get for less than $700. If you're paying substantially more (like you would for a macbook or any apple product) you're really only paying for sex appeal.
If you want a strong that will last, build yourself a desktop. It's really easy now a days and it comes down to plugging things into similar sizes holes. Moreover, when it comes to upgrade, if you build a desktop yourself or get a computer from a company that doesn't modify it's technology like HP and Dell, you can just interchange parts instead of buying a brand new computer. Just imo.