I've been kicking this question around on IRC, but since a lot of you don't go on IRC (antisocial bastards... naw, just messin with ya), I might as well ask it here.
My laptop is barely alive. It can only do around 6 minutes a charge, and it's a few years old, so you won't see replacement batteries in your nearest CompUSA. The wireless whatchamacallits sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, and that's why I'm too scared to turn the computer off: once it boots up, the adapter won't connect to my wireless network. The keyboard sometimes jams (though it's rare), etc. I'm not asking for help on fixing the thing, I was wondering if I should get a new one. Specifically, a Mac.
You see, at our school, laptops are required, but Macs have a nice discount. Sure, it's miles and miles better than my current piece of crap, but should I get a MacBook or get a Dell/HP/generic Windows laptop that may or may not be cheaper? And if I do get a MacBook, should I buy a bigger hard drive so I can run Windows, and what's the gaming specs on the new aluminum MacBooks, preferably in COD 4, TF2, and HL: 2 and other Source games.
NOTE: Prices are in HKD. To convert from HKD to US dollars, divide by 7.8.

You might want do do some looking, becuase those laptops your school is selling are VERY expensive. My school sold very good laptops for around $3,000-$4,000. I can run all the new games fine, except maybe Crsys... and I got it 2 years ago. Your school sells some SERIOUSLY expensive stuff. What will you be running on it other than games(Like modeling/drafting software)?
EDIT: I just asked my roommate (CompSci Major) who bought one similar to the one sold in bundle B for about a quarter of the price. He says your school is pretty much ripping you guys off. He says definately buy from somewhere else.

The days of having to pay top dollar for a laptop are rapidly coming to a close. I got a tremendous laptop with an incredible screen for $1299 from Bestbuy about 8 months ago, but unfortunately the model was discontinued. If you look around you can often find significant bargains, but it may take a good bit of reading to get oriented as to what you really want and why.
Your best bet now would be to do some serious reading on
[url]http://forum.notebookreview.com/index.php?s=f782d7af5c283da56ed38982a69ec46d[/url]
They have very detailed user reviews with scads of commentary on notebooks, in forums divided by manufacturer and threads on each model. It's a place with some real hard core enthusiasts but is generally very easy on newbies too. Many of the contributors have experience across lots of brands and models, so someone merely congratulating himself on what he imagines is a good buy, or the merely fanboyish stuff, is kept to a minimum.
Notebooks/laptops are becoming commodities now, for better or worse. For better: huge and legitimately varied selection, very reasonable prices unless you're just the type to roll over and pay through the nose voluntarily, near constant sales, and having a "name" brand means less and less. For worse: sometimes they are built like commodities, to make up in volume what they lose in product returned for being poorly built or designed, and advertising that is often more obscure and hype-shrouded than useful and is even sometimes borderline unethical.
Expect to do a fair amount of reading before getting past the point where a decision will be much more than random, but expect to be much happier with your choice and perhaps save a lot of money too. It's worth it. Good luck!
And don't forget to check multiple sites for product reviews whenever possible.

I see... but I was really looking at the whole 12-month installment plan. I get to pay HK$853 (around $106) a month. Not too shabby.

I audibly chuckled.
Get a Gateway FX series laptop.

I got a gateway FX myself. Fantastic laptop at a ridiculously good price.

But isn't the battery kind of short, and it's more of a desktop replacement? I have to take a laptop to school every day, you see.

If you're only after a general work computer rather than an all purpose monster, you might want to have a look at a netbook. I've had a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 for a week now and am loving it. I've got massive hands (most of the reason I bought a 17" lappy) and I've already mostly adapted to the smaller keyboard.
I've not yet gotten around to installing FEAR or Medieval 2 Total War on it to see if I can make it explode with sheer stress but it plays In Cold Blood pretty well so when your teachers are boring you to death, you could always load up Fallout & shoot some supermutants...

I have to say no to a Mac. They don't support a ton of games and they can be ridiculously expensive.
If you're looking for a laptop and you're not planning on using it for gaming you should check out these from Dell:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-10?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-12?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19
If you're looking for something to game on then I recommend what I have, which is a Vostro 1500:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/vostronb_1510?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
My Vostro is able to run all of the Source games I have which include TF2, HL2 and L4D. It functions for all my school needs.
Just my two cents.

Thanks! I did some research and found that the MacBook does well with Source-engine games, and apparently it runs GTA 4 on Boot Camp surprisingly well, which is funny because it can barely run on my 8800GTX desktop with 4GB RAM. I'm getting the MacBook, but thanks for your suggestions and help. This is why I love this community.

Oh enough with Dells already! If you want a netbook, either Asus or MSI are what you're actually looking for, for more reasonable a price.
As for normal laptops, I'd recommend getting a Compal - mostly because they're barebones (and not really expensive, at that), so you can fit whatever powerful shit you want into them :)

Ahh Dell are okay. Admittedly the major deciding factor in my buying Dell was the discout I got from my uni because they're a major customer but it still had all the options I wanted. The Asus' keyboard felt a bit smaller (and I wasn't sure I could use the size I ended up with much less anything smaller), the toshiba had gotten shitty reviews, the acer had almost impossible to upgrade memory (honestly, you have to disassemble the whole damned thing!) and the MSI was VASTLY more expensive ($650-700 vs $525)
Personally I'd never buy a dell (or any other branded) desktop, I'm a strictly DIY guy and the only reason I've not done it with my lappy is that you pretty much can't.

Compals and barebones in general allow the replacement of not just RAM and HDD, but CPU and, usually, GPU.. I consider your opinion of "you pretty much can't" misinformed and therefore invalid.
EDIT: Although, from what I heard, you technically can upgrade dell's components. With Dell being Dell, though, I'd assume that'd void any and all warranties currently applicable