1. Decide what you want your laptop for.
Is it for work, school, design, gaming, or just surfing and email? Each function requires a slightly different configuration.
If you need it for work or school, you’ll probably carry it around. So portability is a concern. You’d probably want to look at the laptops with a weight under 2.5kg (including battery pack - ah this they don’t always tell you in the specs).
If you want it for design, get one with a large screen and the best graphics card you can afford.
Similarly for gaming, you’ll want a large screen (minimum 14″ - come on, how are you going to PvP on a 12″) and a good graphics card.
In fact for the above two categories, get a desktop if you can afford the space and don’t need the portability. The price you pay for a laptop can buy you two desktops already. Or else just get an external 20″ screen. I have one. It is very very nice. 
If you’re a light user, just surfing, blogging, and email, get a basic model with some scalability so you can expand with your growing needs. After all, with photo storage, everyone needs more than 100GB.
2. Decide on a budget.
Sigh… this is the part when reality bites. Perhaps I should retitle this, “decide on a realistic budget”.
Laptops are expensive. As I mentioned before, you can get 2 desktops for the price of 1 laptop, and usually with similar specs.
But there is nothing like a laptop nice and warm on your lap, beside you while you sleep, and greeting you with a startup when you wake.
Okay, I digress.
Yes, decide on how much you can afford and then match it to your needs.
3. Do some research.
So now you know roughly what you want, visit some review sites to see what you can get for that price and range. Then isolate your selection to let’s say 3 models and search online to see what peeps are saying about them. Read in particular what users say.
4. Go touch them.
This is what I call the “touch test”. You’ll be touching it, holding it, day in, day out. You have to like touching it. Hence, the touch test.
With technology, you can read the reviews and be absolutely certain you want something but then at the store, when you handle it for the first time, you become sorely disappointed. It is almost like having an online romance (not from personal experience but I can relate) and then meeting that person IRL.
Anyway, be prepared to be surprised.
I was, with my first digital camera purchase. I spent a month and a year deciding to get the Canon A70 but the moment I touched it I cringed. It felt so heavy, chunky, and plasticky. Vincent immediately passed me the Panasonic Lumix F1 and the moment I touched it, I was in love. Never mind I never read a word about it before the “touch test”. I bought it and spent many wonderful months with it.
So head to the store and touch the laptops. See if you like how the keyboard feels when you touch it. See if you like the touchpad or prefer the pointer (little nub thing). See if you like how it looks in real life.
5. Go haggle.
First, know the market price. Check them online. Browse the retail stores. Have an idea the margin with which you can wiggle.
Then after talking to the salesperson for a while, ask politely what is the best price they can offer you. Once you’re happy with the price (or if they can’t budge but you’re still happy with it), try to get the salesperson to throw in some goodies like free memory cards, DVD-Rs, an extra battery, and a nicer laptop bag.
Note: Computer fairs often throw in the goodies for free although prices are rarely that much lower, so if you can wait and don’t mind shoving thousands of other sweaty people, go then. Or, better yet, call the shops if they offer the same deal during the computer fair season at their shop and just go to their pleasantly empty shop then and buy it.
6. Sleep on it.
If you’re unsure, tell the salesperson you’ll sleep on it (maybe he or she will throw in the goodies at this point), and see if you can sleep at all. If you can’t, get up and surf a bit, look at its picture, and return to get it tomorrow.
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