if you can still get one with W7
In London two months ago you only had to utter the magic words "it's for my business" and you could get WIN7. Utter the magic words "its for school" and you got both WIN7 AND a discount, no questions asked.
The last laptop I bought was a Toshiba from the South American river company. Very cheap, has been OK so far, nice screen and keyboard, not enough USB sockets.