I think we need some more details before we can make good recommendations. The low-end consumer boxes are awfully similar from Dell, HP, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, etcetera. Business class machines are more expensive but are more rugged and come with better support.
For <$1K laptops there has been a long-running thread at Ars Technica --
http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtop...5382&start=720
Are we talking we're talking desktop or laptop?
What is your budget?
What size/weight, or for desktops do you need a monitor (do you need better color fidelity or a wide vieing angle?)?
Aside from Windows 7 (or 8) do you have any hardware must-haves (e.g. firewire port, USB 3, memory card reader, latest wifi standard, front-facing ports,...)?
For a laptop, how important is battery life?
Integrated graphics have come a long way (Intel HD4000 is pretty good right now) but if you're buying a desktop they normally allow the addition of a separate graphics card later. This choice is a bigger deal in laptops, which normally don't allow adding/changing a video card later.