If you want good quality, go with business grade, such as
IBM thinkpad series, DELL Latitude. I am not familiar with HP model. My 3 year old Latitude is very solid. Especially, I like its keyboard, strong metal case and wifi signal. If you know how to deal with craiglist,
get a used one, like D630 or T61. It's much much better than cheap/poor laptop and slower netbook.