You're right douG, the Toshibas and Sonys are highly rated, but Sony is too overpriced in my opinion. And Toshibas are not too out of range, bought 3 of them for 999.99 each.
To add to this, we actually do own one other brand, a Lenovo(Thinkpad knockoff) bought in september to replace an old sony(not my choice) and it has issues.
Hasn't failed yet, but interfacing issues with projectors is its main problem.
Stand alone, it may be OK.
OH, forgot, it has a battery issue also, and a prof who bought one also has the same issue. It won't hold a charge.