What is a good laptop to buy for a Computer Science major?

You should go with Lenovo ideapad z series. Actually I have Lenovo ideapad z570 model laptop from last 3 years. This is very cheap and much faster in compare then others.
You can see the specification of this model…

SPECIFICATIONS
- Up to 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
- Up to Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
- Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows® 7 with RapidBoot technology - delivers faster start-up & shutdown and optimized multimedia capabilities
- 15.6" Backlit LED HD display (1366x768), 16:9 widescreen
- Up to NVIDIA® GeForce® GT540M 2GB graphics with DirectX® 11
- Up to 8GB DDR3 memory, up to 750GB HDD storage
- Integrated Bluetooth®1, WiMax2 & high-speed 802.11n Wi-Fi
- Integrated DVD reader/writer & Blu-ray Disc™1 drive
- USB2.0, eSATA connectors & 5in1 card-reader
- Integrated 0.3/2M (720p HD1) webcam

Award winning laptop brands: Asus or Lenovo.

Any laptop with at least corei3 processor and 4 GB Ram will do fine unless you go for graphics design or something.

Get a dell Xps 8gb 1tb disk space. With 2gb nvidia graphics.
Looks like a gaming system but it sure will do well for anything

My husband has purchased 2 Lenovo's. He swears by this model. I'm not that computer tech savvy; however, he is a Systems Security Professional (CISSP) with a degree in IT.