I have several friends who are either "geeks" and/or IT Managers and all say the same:
for general, all around use get the "IBM"-now Lenovo:
http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/en/
of which they all lean on the Think Pads.
For something specal, check out:
http://www.alienware.com/
Laptops:
http://www.alienware.com/Product_Pag...me_office.aspx