Need computer help!
I sell and repair computers and have been using them since the start of the 80's. Here is the order I would look at for reliability.
Asus - all my custom builds and laptops are these
Sony
Hp
then a toss up beween lenovo, toshiba and dell
and last on my list would be acer <- about 60% of all my repairs
If you want to download movies and use it as a media centre ... go with a intel core2 or quad processor. i5/i7 and try and get a 750GB hard drive or larger with a min. of 2 gbs of ram. Movies will take about 700mb per flick and if you start a library ...make sure the hard drive is large enough or you will run out of room fast.
If you get these min. then it won't cost u a ton to upgrade later, cheaper to do it right the first time. I personally like using windows 7 pro in the 64 bit operating system with 4gb of ram. If you use the 32 bit operating system ...then dont go more then 3gb of ram as that is all that a 32bit will recognize. If you have any more questions ...drop me a pm