Dell are very good too..... They would be my pick. Compaq/HP have also improved their quality off late.
Toshiba and Acer are of course very good VFM(in toshiba's case, not so much) and very reliable.
If you can, wait for sometime....wait for Intel to release Core 2 Duo mobiles. Then prices of old lappies will fall (the COre Duo models).