I used to work as a university system administrator until 5 years ago. Our team always held Apple and Thinkpad laptops in great regard. I don't know if Lenovo Thinkpads are still as good as they used to be under IBM's wing, but Apple computers remain very good.. but somewhat overpriced IMO. More recently, I have been underwhelmed with a Sony EB series laptop. It's dependable, and affordable portable, but nothing special IMO. On the other hand, I have been thoroughly impressed with a Series 7 Samsung laptop that I bought and setup for a friend a few months ago. This thing is simply amazing. Good design, super-slim, light, huge display, huge power, 6-7 hours battery life, i7 processor, premium graphics, and about half the price you'd pay Apple for the same performance and quality.