There are well known-brands, but honestly, not really "best" brands, of the major ones you find in stores (Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo). Having worked selling computers for 5 years in retail, I will tell you the simple reality of the matter: Quality is often a function of price. I would digress with one brand mentioned in the thread- Toshiba is crap. The company has gone pretty far downhill in recent years, and it's one of the reasons they've withdrawn from so many markets in things like laptops.
Anyhow, back on the price thing, using an example: Asus is very well thought of, for instance. However, I would not touch a $300 model of theirs - they're absolutely horrid, among the worst I know of. If you're spending like, $500-$1000 though, ASUS is a really solid bet. This is true of almost all the major brands though - people cheap out on the computer, and they are simply not all made equal. The cheap units are cheap for a reason - and often times appallingly so.
So yea - looking at the major brands is a good idea, but consider what you're paying for what you want and what you expect. The simple fact is that it is very hard to find a genuinely good computer at that low-end $300-$400 mark (Canadian Dollar).