Laptop buying advice for techno-illiterate?

Definitely go with HP or Sony. Maybe Toshiba. They're your best bet as far as reliability. When you look at the specifications, it will list, "RAM", you want that to be over 1. At least 3 is what I find sufficient. Ideal hard drive is around 500. You want a dual core processor as well. Athalon processors are a joke, do not by any means waste your money on one of those. Office depot has a laptop that I'm looking to buy that's $375 I believe with all the right specifications. It's HP in brand. I'd look into that if I were you.