I have a Dell Inspiron 9100 which is an awesome laptop - except for the recently discovered design fault causing it to overheat and melt.
I didn't realise all these problems i'd been having were due to a fault until the Gods of Proon pointed it out!
I was on to a techie last night for a while and I have a new Dell Inspiron 9400, guarenteed to at least meet and in some ways exceed my current set up. The customer service has been very very good (once you find a way to it via their awful website), very quick, very knowledgable.
I haven't had experience with any other companies but I would recommend Dell until I find someone better.
The Dell XPS M170 laptop looks brilliant FWIW.
Other than that, possibly a Sony Vaio (sp?) one?