can't really beat a vaio, the only other laptop i'd consider, would be a toshiba sattelite. sis has one, 3 years old, still gets it done(burning cds, word proccessing, and the few games).
and pentiums are great processors, however, since i like over clocking things to save cash, i prefer the AMD chipsets. its really personal preference/application when you get down to it, i'd just look around for reviews on w/e laptop your looking to buy, and make your choice. if possible go into someplace like best buy and ask someone about it, etc, they usually know what they are talkin bout....