Huh, my Toshiba's been totally solid. I don't abuse my laptop - I treat it as if it's worth hundreds of dollars and full of important documents, I'm weird like that - but I've owned several Toshibas over the years and have always been happy.
We used to use Dells at work. Now we use Toshibas. Dell desktops work well but their laptops aren't as impressive in my experience.
Everyone basicaly uses the same guts, there are only so many manufactures of the different parts. Most laptops will be reliable if they are taken care of, just like cars, but if you abuse them watch out.
With that being said get a machine that matches what you are going to be doing with it. IBM and Toshiba business class machines are very well built and are made to be schlepped around, DELL machines and most of the others that have been talked about here will work very well as a desktop replacement that gets to travel once in a while.
Don't leave your laptop out in the car overnight if it is cold or hot outside, or if you do let it get up to room temp before you turn it on. Try to open it up with two hands, the hinges will thank you later. Use the battery regularly and turn it off when you are not going to be using it for an extended period of time. Follow those guidlines and any machine should last for a long time.
Of course feel free to take this like any other advice given over the internet. 
Keith wrote: Huh, my Toshiba's been totally solid. I don't abuse my laptop - I treat it as if it's worth hundreds of dollars and full of important documents, I'm weird like that - but I've owned several Toshibas over the years and have always been happy. We used to use Dells at work. Now we use Toshibas. Dell desktops work well but their laptops aren't as impressive in my experience.
I've had three Toshibas die on me in the last year (to be fair, two were the same model).
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