If I was buying a laptop tomorrow I would almost certainly get one of these:
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/127306/rb/28397595211
Or one of these if I didn't care about size:
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/127302/rb/28397595211
You can't really go wrong with a core 2 duo and Nvidia 8 series GPU. Asus are a good manufacturer too.