Id have to go for sony vaio or apple g4 very fast and very very nice, Plus gurantee with apple is great!
But as there sell as the same in shops i'd rather buy one at a sho where you're 100% confident then if you buy from someone
Averatec AV3225HS-01 Notebook PC (AMD Athlon XP-M 2000+, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard drive, 802.11g, DVD+CD-RW combo)
or
Toshiba Satellite M35X-S163 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Celeron M Processor 360, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)
and both under $1000
alienware alienware alienware alienware alienware!! lol might not sell them but thats definetly my choice, other wise go for a toshiba or vaio. i found my old toshiba satelite 1.5ghz the other day got the dust of it and its in mint condition good little runner. I have about 3 vaio's sitting near me now and there quite nice.