I just ordered a Sony Vaio in Pink...lol. I had a Dell previously and had nothing but issues with them and hated the customer support. They farm it out to foreign places and they never knew enough and were always reading from a manual. So that died and I haven't replaced it as yet.
I contacted the IT guru at work and showed him the Sony I ordered and he said for the price $1280 w/tax and $5 shipping (over night) it's a great but. I do about the same you do at home and this he said would definitely fit the bill. He is doing some more techno geek checking for me but I think I will keep the order. I had contemplated cancelling it and checking some others out.
I have previously had a compaq (which is now HP) and hated it as well. Not sure how well their stuff is now but I am not interested...been there and done that.
I built a couple computers with the same specs at rival computer companies and their machines came out more without the shipping and tax The upside and what also made this one very favorable to me is that I have no payment or interest until Jan '09. Goes a long way because I can put the money aside in full in about six months and have my puter in the meantime and not get hit with any interest.
This is what I ordered:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...52921665157459
I took the base model which has way more than I need. I didn't opt for any more expensive softwares as add ons because the computer guru at work will get it for me.
Good luck.