Personally.... I have had great luck with HP laptops (currently have 2). I have had my home laptop for 2 1/2 years and have not had one minute of trouble. I have had my other one for about 3 months.... no trouble yet.
When you do comparative shopping.... make sure you are comparing apples to apples. There are many, many options out there. I highly recommend a dual processer (works much faster).
You will also want to consider the type of support that will be available once you have purchased the system.
Good luck!