I've never seen a HP product that I could label as a "quality" item. I've always gone for Canon, Sony and Toshiba, and haven't been disappointed yet. I purchased a new Toshiba Satellite L300 laptop last July (on special at AU$799) and it came with Norton, Office and Vista installed, and a free upgrade to Windows 7. It's a little pearler, I couldn't be happier with it. Not too heavy (2.7kg), modest but adequate CPU power (2 Gig Dual Core), 250 GB HDD, inbuilt wireless modem, inbuilt card reader - in fact, everything you really need for everyday purposes - and no pop rivets. Made in China, of course - but what isn't nowadays? It's been a long time since I saw any computer equipment that was made in Japan.
Satellite L300/06X