Its back to university in a few weeks and I’m needing a new laptop. Currently I have my eye on a Dell Inspiron 6400:
Processor: Intel® Centrino® Mobile Technology: up to Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T7400 (2.16 GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB & Intel® Pro/Wireless 3945 (802.11a/b/g) network connection
Operating System:
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate
Genuine Windows Vista® Business
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic
Chipset: Intel® 945GM chipset (with Intel® GMA 950TM integrated graphics)
Display: Choice of 15.4-inch Wide screen displays in WXGA resolution, WXGA TrueLifeTM resolution
Video Graphics: Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950TM integrated graphics with up to 224MB shared system memory
Wireless Connectivity Solutions: Integrated Dual-Band (802.11 a/b) antenna. Integrated DellTM Wireless 1390 (802.11b/g) or Intel® Pro/Wireless 3945 (802.11a/b/g) network connections. The Dell Wireless 350TM integrated Bluetooth 2.0 wireless solution is available as optional upgrade at time of purchase only
Battery Life: Be productive for up to 5 hours without re-charging your batteries
Design: Artic Silver and Alpine White design incorporating a 5-1 card reader and front-access multimedia buttons
Memory: Up to 2GB of 533 DDR 2 SDRAM provides for excellent overall system performance
Optical drives: Your choice of CD-RW/DVD Combo drive or 8x DVD+/-RW 2(supports double layer technology)
Software: Microsoft® WorksTM including Works word processor, spreadsheet, database, calendar and My Projects organiser
Weight: Starting from 2.8 kg (6.18 lbs) with CD-RW/DVD Combo drive and 6-Cell Battery and integrated graphics
QuickSnap Colour Display (LCD) Back: Choose from four different stylish colours to personalise your notebook
Express card slot: Please note that this system has a ExpressCard slot and support the ExpressCard format only. This system does not have a PCMCIA card slot.
The only thing they forgot is the battery time. Since I’ll be using this to take notes, among other things, battery time is very important.
Any other suggestions?
Random Musings 
For school I would look towards a Tablet PC. Add in Microsoft OneNote and you’ve got a digital paper solution that will keep your notes organized.
If you are going for a more traditional laptop you’ll want the 9-cell battery for longer life if you are going to be away from the power grid. If you want performance you’ll want a 7200RPM hard drive. I recently installed a Seagate Momentus 7200.2 into my Inspiron 9400 and wow, what a difference, especially when doing software development. That being said, the performance vs. battery life trade off does exist. Finally consider something other than the GMA video if it is available. I prefer ATI because they have better driver support, whereas NVIDIA is slow to deliver on updates.