Sony VAIOs look good but run like shit. My last one cost me £2000 (US$3800) and lasted a whole 18 months before giving up completely due manufacturing faults and dodgy parts.
MACs are obviously the designers' choice, gorgeous and great performance though you may want to stick with PCs for convenience.
If so I'd recommend
AlienWare. These babies are designed by gamers for gamers, so you can bet they're the business in terms of performance. Rock solid. They're not bad to look at either, maybe a little bulkier depending on the model, but that's a small trade off for what you get. Personally, this is my next laptop.
D/
