When you first boot up your laptop, chances are that you will get a notification that you should make a set of recovery disks.  You should get a screen similar to the following:

The above example is from an HP computer. 

The reason you want to create a set of recovery disks is that they allow you to restore your computer to what it was like when you purchased it from the store.  Now, there is a recovery partition on your hard drive, but if the hard drive fails, you would have no way to recover your computer.  That is why you need to make the recovery disks. 

In most cases you will need either a couple of DVDs (provided your notebook has a DVD-burner), or ten CDs (varies per computer).  It takes some time for the computer to collect all the files it needs to copy to the disks.  What I would suggest is to start it, go do something else, and check on your notebook from time to time.  You can expect the process to take an hour or two depending on the speed of your computer and the speed of your burner.

Be sure to label each disk as you remove them from the computer.  Typically, the program will ask to check the disks you have created after it has finished making the recovery set.  If there are any errors on any of the disks, you will have to do this process again.  Just make sure that when you are done, that you put the disks somewhere that you can find them should you ever need them.  It doesn't help you to have some recovery disks if you cannot find them.

So, make sure that you make your recovery disks BEFORE you hook up to the Internet.  Should your computer ever be infected by viruses to the point where it is un-fixable, at least you will have an option that is cheaper than calling in a professional - using your recovery disks.