COMP should have sent you a SPECs list about the laptop. But basically, you can get any laptop with 700 MHz, PIII and up. It should run fine. Mine's a Fujitsu Lifebook A series. I personally went w/ AMD as opposed to Pentium because it's very stable and much cheaper than the P4. it costs me around $1200 if I remember correctly. Fujitsu is new on the laptop market, so they give you a lot more options. Customer service is also excellent. My laptop hadn't crash on me yet (except for when I installed AOL- arghhh!!!- took it off now and it's fine- AOL always crashes my PCs too.) Some of my classmates have Dells and those freeze on them sometimes. But anyway, if you shop around, I'm sure you'll find a nice and affordable laptop. Just make sure it comes with an ethernet card, relatively light and you're set. The other stuff should come standard.
Good luck to you!