Hi Matt,
I maybe biased against Sony or just plain wrong, but I think Sony laptops are ripoffs! With Sony (and all branded models), a lot of your money is going towards buying the brand name and not performance and features. Of course some will argue that that happens when buying any well-known brand, and that is true, but just to differing extents. For laptops however, I've experienced Sharp, Dell, Sony, NEC and Toshiba. The NEC and Sharp were good buys in my opinion. Goodluck with your choice!