laptop

looking for a new laptop but dont know much about them what would be the best processor for speed , I know it needs to be maxed on ram and a decent hard drive but the new processors I am confused about . I have one with an amd turion 64 and it takes between 5 and 10 minutes to get started so you can do anything want to avoid that so any suggestions would be great . would like to stay around $600, I know thats limited but its a gift and about all I can afford now.