I had a Toshiba A200-1M8, bought in Oct 2007 and had it for 3 years. It was very reliable and generally I was happy with it.
8 months ago bought an Asus N61JV. A bit less happy with it than i was my Toshiba, and if i had to do it again I would think twice about Asus I'm afraid. Both laptops used primarily for work.