For the OP: I have a Lenovo Thinkpad L420. It's been fine (touch wood), but the little trackpad button really annoys me. I'm a fast typist and often catch my finger on the thing! Apart from that little red nub, the laptop has been unproblematic. I went for a Lenovo product because I wanted a matte screen; a "business" laptop, not a high-speed gaming one.
It's predecessor was a solidly built HP, nothing like the HP's I saw when shopping a year ago. They were flimsy, glossy, media and gaming laptops. One of my cats, who's rather large, has a tendency to jump on my laptop, while it's closed, so I went round PC World etc prodding the lids - they all buckled. Luckily, the Lenovo has a solid lid which Fred can jump on without doing too much damage
