I would 2nd the vote for ACER. Think I read somewhere that they are the top selling laptop in Europe at the moment. You get a lot of bang for your buck by avoiding the big names that charge a premium which I guess is why their market share is so big. Definitely go for the widescreen WXGA and cystalbrite if they still do that as the quality is great for the price.
http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/