Consumer reports is always good, but just remember that 90% of consumers don't understand how to get the most out of a computer and are so used to the mediocre performance of most PCs that they don’t know what they are missing out on, so when CR says it is a good PC, what they mean is that it is good for a PC. Plus just look at the CR for any Mac computer: I have yet to find an unhappy Mac user.
The best people to talk to about laptops are college students. I remember freshman year, everybody had a brand new laptop that seemed great. Next semester, you noticed that those once blazing machines seem to lag a little. A year later, the paint is wearing off on the mouse pad, some of the keys don’t work, and you can’t have more than two windows open anymore. During that entire period, the few Macs on campus still look and perform like the first day of school. I own a 4 year old Toshiba laptop and it is good, but it cost the same as a Mac when it came out and it is nowhere near as good as my GF's 4 year old Mac.
A netbook might be a good option though. There aren't as many hardware options, so they are more standardized and have less problems. Also, since they have limited RAM, manufactures don't load all of those memory intensive graphics so they actually run at a decent speed. The only down side with them are the lack of a disc drive, small screens, and most can only run XP.
Go to some stores and check out netbooks, Macs, and some PC laptops. All the PC laptops will run Windows 7 which is very graphic intensive and I would not recommend a low model computer for that reason. You will need 4 gigs of RAM minimum and at least a 2.4 GHz processor. To get a laptop that actually performs really well, you will end up spending between $800 and $1200 and for that money, you are better off with a Mac because it will outlast any laptop and it will be much easier to use.