Dell and hp laptops are good all rounders and reliable
Toshiba is more for media
sony for the style concious normally pay a slight premium for sony's but if they are on sale they are good laptops
I was going to get the dell xps 13" laptop but dad got a free new hp tx1000 so I have that instead. Good solid laptop only small flaw is that they use amd turion instead of intel core 2 duo mobile so its not quite as fast as others in a similar price range. It has the mass benefit of being touch screen though which is hugely beneficial.