Until last year, I bought nothing but Dell... Their laptops are generally very good quality. More importantly (I think), when you do have problems, you're usually not without a computer more than 3 business days.
I have a Latitude (purchased used and already broken) with what I understand to be a common keyboard failure - since resolved. I have one of the first couple hundred pentium II Inspirons - it runs hot, but it's been running strong since 1998. I have the step up from that machine that's had every hinge and plastic case component replaced (under warranty), but it's also running strong.
For $1148, you'd have a hard time finding a better machine.