Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy. This forum is not for asking programming related questions.
Acer. Cheap, good, comfortable keyboard but usually come with winxp. I'm sure you could strike a deal with 'em though if you tried, or just get a custom one at your local computer store.
I've had good experiences with Dell, IBM and HP laptops.. although mostly the higher end ones, so not entirely sure about a larger one that's also cheap..