Well, my PC's are custom built, mine, dads, sisters.
My dad has a Dell laptop, and so does my sister. Inspiron and Vostro 1510. My dad is an ex-IBM computer engineer, servers, tape automated backup silo's etc, not pc's.
He rates Lenovo's and Toshiba's high, followed by Dell. He has heard bad things about HP, Compaq and Acer, as have I, I heard acer's fall apart pretty quick. Floppy lids, screws falling out etc. Sony's are very high priced and are no better than Dell's IMO, and not as good as Lenovo's i think.
Asus i have heard are pretty good, and i like the Eee 900, glad they replaced the huge bezel with a bigger screen.
My sisters Vostro looks sweet, like a macbook really, slot loading, squared edges, but my dad prefers my Toshiba A100-49, and i prefer my sisters Vostro. My laptop was bought used, top spec for £340 with a belking bag. I have had it about 4 months and its still in great working condition. My dads inspiron was abused by my sister before she got hers for a couple of years, and the charger plug broke at the strain relief, and the hand rest edge has gone white. Her Vostro is only a week old, and the shiney lid scratches easily, but ok so far.
The Vostro was £316, and is slightly better than mine spec wise, but was brand new, but no bag. Dell had a £50 off deal and free shipping, so it was a top deal!
I like the Lenovo design, and build quality, but people think your laptop is ancient if they dont know their stuff...
Apple are a whole different kettle of fish. Never used one, and dont really want one, but people here seem happy.
Matt