Lionel, "trollhunter" Bouchpan-Lerust-Juery, <trollhunter@linuxfr.org> has written a similar HOWTO, please look at his laptop pages (French version) or the laptop pages (English version).
These are sources of information of general use to laptop and notebook owners, regardless of the operating system used.
Laptop Soup This site offers a lot of information about what companies produce which machines sold under which brand names. If you need to know what company made your machine, this site may help you find out.
Notebook Jungle This is another site that offers information about which notebooks are made by which manufacturers for which resellers. There is a search engine and indices based on country.
The WWW Virtual Library: Mobile and Wireless Computing This site provides a world of information about scientific journals, conferences, academic projects, and more that relate to state-of-the-art mobile computing. There are also many references to developing standards, non-profit and governmental organizations, and an index of vendors, including wireless service providers.
Federal Communications Commission On-line Equipment Authorization Database If you are having problems identifying the manufacturer of a laptop or notebook computer (or other electronic device,) this site lets you search the FCC database based on the FCC ID number you can usually find on the equipment if it was marketed in the United States of America.