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[mgrinshpon]

People saying "DF only needs 3gb of ram" are flat out wrong. Other than crap that accumulates on a laptop as time wears on which itself may use more than a gig of ram, DF can be large address aware enabled meaning it can use up to 4gb (or thereabout) itself allowing for smoother games with higher FPS. As for CPUs, the faster each core is the better. Obviously, don't go for just a single core laptop but be aware that DF is not multi-threaded, meaning the program itself can only make use of a single core. The other core or cores are for system processes or other programs, like internet browsers for instance.

As an aside, I'm using an HP dm4-2070us, which has drivers made by people with special needs but the hardware is excellent. Fortresses around 150 people aren't an issue. 200 starts becoming problematic, with FPS hovering around 10-20.

[Valrandir]

Any brand-new laptop with a Core-i5 processor will be great.
If the laptop has a Core-i5 CPU then it will also have enough ram and so on.

[Valrandir]

This page list laptops with a Core-i5 CPU and an OK screen resolution for the price (1600x900).

Any of them will run DF Super Great and also pwn your schoolwork.
I would recomment the first one on the page, the lenovo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%20600003988%20600004419&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=20

If you want supercheap in the 300$ range, you will get a netbook and a piss-poor processor which won't run DF and just be generally sad.

[PhantomXD]

If you really are on a budget i suggest something like http://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-asus-x53u-sx155v-amd-fusion-apu-e-450-16ghz-4gb-ddr3-500gb-sata-3gb-s-dvdrw-windows-7-home-premi as a minimum.

[ChokingVictim]

Careful OP, back in my college days I played dorf fort at school.  (It was a macbook from 2007 and it played 40d at 9FPS with 50 dwarves) but since no one knew what it was I found I spent all my time in the back of class slowly, and I mean slowly, building megaprojects and fightin gobs. 

[Callista]

Do remember that there are ways in-game to make DF run better, such as using DFHack to remove contaminants, turning off temperature and weather, and destroying extra items. Keeping your fort population low, avoiding evil clouds, and not releasing HFS also helps. There are surprisingly many things you can do under those limitations. For example, try making a generation fort: Turn the max population to 1 and survive with just the first two migrant waves. That means you have to protect every dwarf; you'll never be able to overwhelm sieges by sheer numbers, tantrums are truly deadly, you don't have a huge pool of haulers, etc. And FPS stays at 100 unless you play around with liquids too much.

[0cu]

A mod recommendation:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=117954.0

Also simplifies DF. No more crutch splint, willow splint and so on. Wood Splints and Silk clothes.

[bucket]

If you want supercheap in the 300$ range, you will get a netbook and a piss-poor processor which won't run DF and just be generally sad.

Untrue.
As I've said in other threads: any multicore CPU and 3GB of memory is sufficient to run DF competently. There are plenty of laptops with those specs to be had in the 300-400 dollar range.

Here's an excellent machine.
http://microcenter.com/product/402692/Aspire_AS7250-3821_173_Laptop_Computer_Refurbished_-_Mesh_Black

Here's a similar machine running Skyrim (if laptop gaming is your thing).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ciTFBftZw&feature=relmfu