After years of buying the usual bigger names like Hewlett,Compaq etc I bought a cheap package from K Mart and added a second memory card and additional hard drive and it still runs perfectly after 3 years.

I think as long as you buy it somewhere reputable and it has a good warranty then the branding is just a preference. I know over here you can buy a decent laptop from Aldi for about 700 and its normally 2gb memory and 160gb hard drive.

Just shop around and remember to ask for a cash discount idf that's how you're paying.