General

Firstly, an i5 or i7 laptop with 8GB of ram is fairy common and not consider "expensive", especially compared to the gaming laptops or ultra books.
Secondly, the idea of using an VM to "emulate" the actual server, which is usually runs on Xeno CPUs, is to try to get as close to the performance as the real thing as possible (both cores and ram). This is how some development environments are in the real world.
OP did mention Java which takes a lot more resources than simple shell scripts. A 4/4GB (windows/VM) split allows for more head room and pushes hitting the swapping threshold further down the road.

You can get by with a cheap laptop. CS courses, minus certain deep elective courses (e.g. computer graphics, big data management, etc) don't require high-end laptops. Though if you do plan on taking those courses, you're still better off buying a cheap laptop now and upgrading later, especially considering how fast technology is depreciated.

@CTBlack: I don't see why you would need an expensive, high-end laptop to test programs or run a VM. Lightweight Linux distros like Lubuntu or CrunchBang can be emulated perfectly fine on low-specification machines. And chances are, the only reason why OP will need to run a UNIX-based system is for terminal capabilities, basic bash scripting, and testing low-level programs that won't require more than 2GB of allocated VM RAM.

It is not about brands, its more to do with CPU and memory (8 GB+) for programming.
The IDE for Java are usually either Eclipse or IDEA, they both work best with lots of memory.
When its time to test your programs, you would want to use a VM (like VMware or VirtualBox) to run all the various Java needed servers (Apache/Tomcat/database etc...). A VM works best with (again) lots of memory and also if you use a multi core CPU like i5 (quad core) or i7 (quad with hyper threading), would be best.

So in summary: A i5 or i7 with 8GB or more of memory will allow you to program and test everything in your laptop.

[quote=maplerescue]Hi Basil! I'll be entering my freshmen year of college this fall as an Information Systems major. We'll be learning mostly Java, Python, and web development and I was wondering what your recommendations would be for a laptop that would be good for my uses? I've had my cousins recommend Toshiba in general but I'm also interested in hearing your thoughts.

Also, on a side note, is Windows 8 really that terrifying to use?
Thanks in advance! [/quote]

idk about programming but Windows 8 is actually ok (if you have touchscreen)

I also first thought that Windows 8 was a bad thing, but now I love it and can't really use Windows 7 anymore.

Windows 8 is fine. I suggest you get a laptop with a i3 or i5 cpu since most compilers don't use any more than 4 cores.
Don't get an amd processor since amd cpu/apu have horrible single core performance.

[quote=maplerescue]I'm just being paranoid really. My current Fujitsu laptop is a few years old and is struggling after not doing much more than running Maplestory and embroidery software. I'm just trying to avoid a laptop that'll die in a couple of years. [/quote]

There's no reason for a computer to "die" unless it has actual hardware failure like broken parts or burned out components.
Usually hardware problems in laptops stem from dust buildup in the cooling system. Laptops have tiny air passageways that carry air to the CPU and other chips to cool them and dust bunnies and fluff can block the air which causes the chips to overheat. Having the computer professionally cleaned can do a lot to help with symptoms caused by overheating like locking up and shutting down in the middle of things.

Other problems like "slowing down" are usually caused by buildup of unnecessary junk on the hard drive over time which can waste CPU power and RAM, slowing down applications you're trying to run, or malware (viruses, trojans and other evil things) which can steal computer resources.
This kind of thing can be helped by regularly running "Disk Cleanup" in Windows to remove junk files, "Defragment" to keep the hard drive defragmented, scanning with anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners, and keeping an eye on "startup" programs which can slow things down.

It's like driving a car for years and never changing the oil. Eventually the car will "die", but it's not the car's fault.

As far as Windows 8, why not go to a store like Best Buy and play with some computers that have Win8 installed..?
Get a feel for what it's like and see how you like it.

And for a college laptop, almost any computer will work fine for introductory programming classes. The kinds of things they'll have you working on won't require anything special as far as hardware specifications go, so you won't have to worry about particularly fast processors or high-tech video cards.
Mostly it'll be printing "Hello World" on the screen, or printing a schedule of credit card payments to minimize the interest paid over 5 years or whatever, and any good laptop will be able to handle that.

It's more important to find a computer that feels comfortable to you with features you like and which will be easy to use because you'll be using it a lot at school.
Go to the store and play with the keyboard, the trackpad, check out the way the screen looks and make sure it has a good long battery life. Those kinds of things will be most important to getting lots of use out of whatever you choose.

I used notepad + cmd on Windows 7 for python and it works fine.

i'd recommend getting one with plenty of memory, so that you can run a virtual machine w/o trouble

You don't need that much juice really, take something that floats your boat.

@Craftinrock: I'm just being paranoid really. My current Fujitsu laptop is a few years old and is struggling after not doing much more than running Maplestory and embroidery software. I'm just trying to avoid a laptop that'll die in a couple of years.

@misslime: Thanks for your input! I've only really heard from some friends who aren't the biggest fans of technology and complain about it to no ends.

@metaghost4: Thank you! I'll probably just wait until school is closer before deciding.

Windows 8 has a confusing layout and it's kind of hard to navigate without a touchscreen, so I'd reccomend to get a computer with W7/ install W7 as soon as possible if you can, but it's not that bad once you get the hang of it.