Purchasing a good laptop near $1000

Purchasing a good laptop near $1000
I've never owned my own laptop, but I've built my own desktops and my boss is wanting me to purchase a laptop for him around $1000. He just wants to

Dell picks Carrefour for PC sales in France and Spain (Reuters)
Reuters - Personal computer maker Dell Inc. said on Tuesday it had picked Carrefour , the world's second biggest retailer, to distribute its notebook and desktop PCs in France, Spain and Belgium.

Micron Shrinks DRAM Process Technology, Achieves World’s Smallest...
...products, which are specifically designed for applications where power reduction is desired such as data center servers and notebook computers.

Expansion Port 3
...yum9me posted a photo: Expansion Port that is on many HP/Compaq notebook computers. Used for Docking Station and Port Replicators.

OLPC asked to free XO laptop (InfoWorld)
InfoWorld - As commercial sales of One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop close Monday, a user tracking the nonprofit effort said continued commercial availability of the laptop could benefit OLPC's nonprofit effort, the XO manufacturer, and children using it as a learning tool.