...and the friend who sells and supports laptops for a living, would tell you to nip down to your local Currys/John Lewis/wherever and TRY OUT the laptops you're thinking of purchasing, as the defining point of a laptop is that you're stuck with the touchpad/keyboard you get*, so you'd better get one you can live with (then leave the shop and buy it online).
*obviously external kb/mice are available, but that negates the point of a laptop to a certain extent.