If you live in the US, try out the Asus K53TA. It's available at Best Buy for just 450$. Specs: Processor: AMD A6-3400M @ 1.4Ghz (quad core, Llano APU - can be overclocked to 2.3 Ghz or even 2.8 Ghz) Memory: 4 GB DDR3 RAM - 1333 Mhz Hard disk - 500 GB 5400 RPM Graphics cards: Integrated: Radeon HD6520G (integrated into the processor). Dedicated: Radeon HD6650M with 1 GB dedicated VRAM. (Both are connected through Crossfire). And the other stuff. 15.6 inch LED screen, Altec Lansing Speakers, Wifi b/g/n support. 0.3 megapixel webcam (not great but for the price....). No inbuilt bluetooth. For GNU/Linux, everything works out of the box except.....graphics. In Ubuntu 11.04 works with software rendering and you can install Catalyst after which it works amazingly well . Cannot even install Ubuntu 11.10 since it tries to use the open source drivers but doesn't bundle the required firmware - shows black screen - might be installable using alternate CD. Fedora 15 works with Catalyst. And if you use something with newer software versions (kernel, mesa etc.) you can use it on the opensource drivers.

Get some practice ! Write real code. Look up some opensource Java programs and study the source code. Try to make your own program or modify an existing one. If you're interested in programming for cellphones you can try J2ME.