It would help to know for what exactly you want the laptop, for example: Microsoft Office, web browsing, some games, high-quality gaming, video/image editing, etc. What's your budget? Mac or Windows? If the latter, Windows 7 or 8? And so on. xD If or when you find a laptop you think might be the one, Google the model, and get as much info on it as you can, like user-submitted reviews. You don't want to buy a lemon, so it can do the world of good, to absorb lots of info on a particular model. If you go for a netbook/notebook, keep in mind they are designed with power-saving as a priority, so they will very likely be slow. I have a - possibly Acer - netbook that I bought not long ago, for £200 or so, and it's painfully slow, or it least, comparatively slow, up against my PC. If you just want something for Microsoft Office, the odd bit of web-browsing, E-Mails, and so on, then you really don't need to spend much at all. £100 would likely get you a nice enough laptop for those tasks. If you are insistent on buying one brand-new, then you're probably looking at £200+ judging by the prices here in England, at our high-street.

These 10.1" ASUS netbooks seems to be well received, and I confess, I wish I had bought one instead of my current, possibly Acer, one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-X101CH-...ds=asus+laptop

But yeh, look around and do some research, unless you wanna gamble more than normal. :P

As for software, I'd say you're better off with the proven-to-be-sufficient Windows 7; I think it's a brilliant OS. Some may like Windows 8, but as its still fairly new, and not exactly necessary, I'd just stick with Windows 7. If you absolutely have to go with Windows 8, you could remove it and install Windows 7 on there, but if you're not used to this stuff, I'd just leave it as-is.

For hardware, you're wanting at least a 2-core CPU at a guestimate of 1.7GHz - 2.2GHz, depending on the CPU type, or more, but for more demanding games, I'd go for a 3-4 core CPU at 1.7GHz+, depending on how badly you want to game. When looking for a GPU, keep in mind that regular desktop/tower versions will be better, because they aren't optimised so much for power-preservation, heat, and other variables applicable to a laptop. There is, for example, a big difference between a 660Ti, or a 660M, similar to the difference between a passively cooled card, and a regular bell 'n whistles card of the same type. For RAM, you do not need 16GB or some nonsense, unless you're doing some fairly extensive video editing, image editing, server-stuff, etc. If you're wanting some sweet gaming action, go for 6-8GB, the latter being the sweet-spot, these days. If you're after regular use, 2-4GB would do just fine, although the former may chug a bit, if you use a lot of stuff at once. If you're after value but still want some nice power under the proverbial hood, then go for an AMD-based system, as they tend to have your bank-balance more in your favor. AMD graphics chips/cards tend to be more favorable to a healthy price, or so I'm told, but I'm not convinced, personally.

There's some random bitties of info.

Hope I helped in some way.

Good luck!