Get your criteria right then buy the latest PC Mag and match the criteria to their lists for your country.
Recommendable criteria are possibly:
Space available - small = Baby Sony Vaio or similar
How often will it be lugged around = every day or once a week/month = more lugging = less weight (including most accessories)
How long will it be used at a time = longer suggests bigger screen (15") which is more cost also & perhaps a slightly less strong build
Will it have to survive dropping etc. = if yes small screen and cheapo
How much does it have to store 10 Gb, 20, 30, more? = depends on users fancy, tidyness and which faculty they are attending !
Look hard at the warranty - 3 years is a minimum and then check how easy and cheap it is to get it to a warranty center (some towns have drop off points chech what your youngster's university town has !
DELL price performant (no slow ones available) - If user is computer literate - possibly good choice - repairable almost worldwide ! (possibly another hidden criteria)
COMPAQ mid and cheaper parts of their range are good quality and fairly rugged - to of the range - possibly a bit fragile
IBM can be best value for money, but not always.
Finally check with the IT department at your employer ! Most companies have a solid deal with a supplier and will normally pass the full benefits on to staff ! Can mean that an IBM or COMPAQ at 20% more than the equivalent DELL turn out to be around 5% less. If going DELL ask for the student rebate.
And then when quoted a price always ask for a further rebate to make the quoted price just better than the competitions (only do this if this is the magic choice) - I'm surprised how often another 1 to 8-9% can come.
Remember average lifespan of a laptop in hard (student) type environments is 20-30 months.
