dell, HP/compaq, sony :down:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,11...4/article.html

edit: and you don't want your sony battery to explode on you

ibm is by far the best. toshiba, fujitsu and acer are pretty good. but fujitsu is usually a little higher end, meant more for corporate use. acer doesn't have a good selection in the US. they make the Ferrari notebooks in Europe