Toshiba, thats quality! My 5 year old satelite is still up and running. Spends most of its days in the drawer now a days, but still works perfectly when called upon.
Apple is good, but it depends on how much you like OS X. I'm not a huge fan myself, but I can't say too much bad about it.
In the land of PC's, I'd say I like Dell the best simply because they give you the most customization options. I think its BS that you can't get a 7200RPM drive with HP for example on 99% of their models.
It doesn't use *much* more power though (a watt or two), and it is a nice option to have. It certainly makes a difference in responsiveness of the machine.