I don't know which laptop to get?

I have no idea which laptop to get. I have not bought a laptop before. I want something with a large screen. I like to do programming and I want to be able to do a small bit of gaming, RPG's and such, maybe a bit of steam as well. I just want something with a good CPU and is not likely to break down on me. Thank you in advance to anyone who responds because i think this may be a question which is asked a lot on yahoo but none really relevant to my situation. Windows is preferable but not necessary as I think I may end up installing linux anyway.