What laptop to buy

Actually nowadays, majority of new laptops marketed are having sufficient performance to run latest OSs.

But basically i will check:

1. How much memory it has: nowadays, at least 4GB is needed if you are installing windows 7, for XP, 1GB may be sufficient.
2. How much hardisk you need. 1TB will be preferred nowadays.

Other than that, you may like to check what are the freebies available in it - is Operating systems free with your purchased and so on. Warranty period is another important item that you may like to consider. My Dell laptop motherboard spoilt 1 year after my purchased. I get free replacement because of the warranty - it really worth it!

Investing is laptop is still not a cheap activities - so make sure that you really need it, only then buy it. The PC price drop really fast!

Last but not least, do some comparison shopping!