Once again, thanks for all the advice.
I haven't actually taken the plunge yet, but everyone's comments are very gratefully recieved and have enabled me to narrow the field considerably.

A few friends and colleagues have Mac's of various varieties and they all rave about their simplicity and reliability etc, although looking at various comparison/recommendation sites, very few of them feature any Mac's.
Is that just industry pressure or simply "that those in the know" don't rate them for genuine reasons?

Toshiba were one of the best laptop makers in the '90s, but then their build quality and customer service went down the pan around the turn of the century.

I believe they have improved the former at least, but a bad reputation takes far longer to lose than to gain.

SD

Just bought an HP from ebuyer £238 + vat .
Reasonable spec Vista , 2gb ram 15.4 screen etc

Try www.dell.co.uk/outlet (there are other non-UK versions)

These are returned laptops which are then rebuilt and properly tested but then sold as second-hand. I used to be a bit dubious as to why they were returned but found out that the vast majority are returns by shops such as Tesco who ordered 100,000 but only sold 70,000.

If you're wondering how I found out - I used to work for them.