I have a Compaq. It's abit old, but is now market under the HP brand. What a piece of junk. Had problems from the start, called Compaq who said they couldn't help because I was using it away from where I bought it. It's a laptop -that's what it was designed to do!!!! My bro in law bought the same model and had exactly the same snags. never again.
Eldest son has a Toshiba. It has a beautiful clear screen and is a very stable and safe machine. Only snag has been him downloading a virus.
Youngest son has a Lenovo - a model which is also sold under an IBM brand name. It's a very stable and reliable machine and I would thoroughly recommend the brand to anyone.