As I say in every laptop thread: Apple iBook.... or something from Big Blue (IBM).
The new iBook can't be beat for price and performance. With a student discount I think they are around $1500ish that is pretty good value for a brand new laptop which has a good processor (PowerPC G4 goodness) a good graphics processor (ATI 9200 32MB), 802.11b/g wireless and is a good size (12" is good if you are going to lug it around everywhere). If you want extra stuff like another 256MB of RAM (Total 512) and a 60gig hard disk, you are hitting around the $1700 - $1800 area.
If you compare the iBook to the IBM X series Thinkpad (12" in size with a centrino) you are gonna be looking at around $2500+ and comes with a 40gig hard disk but no optical drive. But then again Thinkpads are made to take a lot of shit (shit being daily ware, usage, stress, pressure), but then again so are iBooks.
If I had the money (and had job
) I'd get an iBook due to the fact you have a nice small portable laptop with good features that can handle a lot of stress and at a reasonable price.