I highly suggest you check out
www.cnet.com
They do great reviews on just about anything electronic. Also check out the main pages of several pc companies and compare specs with price ranges. For programming, you do not need something awesome, but if you are going to be using Inventor, and 3D StudioMax, then you need to get a fairly decent notebook. I advise looking at Dell; their stuff is okay, but you can get stuff for a good price. Make sure you have lots of ram, a nice processor, and an awesome graphics card, and I think you should be fine. Problem is on battery life (less than 2 hours). Also note that it is difficult to upgrade a laptop due to limited space, so try to get the stuff you really want now, instead of later. I hope this helps.