ASUS A8Js

I don't have experience with that model in particular, but have owned a Asus laptop ?A3J?.. 17" multimedia type.
I loved it. Well built, nice design.

The only issue is that Asus isn't great about drivers for their notebooks, and tech support is basically left as an unanswered post on their forums. That may not be true anymore since it looks like asus is really trying to break into the notebook market a lot harder than when I got mine a year or so ago. The price was great (newegg), it performed flawlessly, and was nice enough that my business partner stole it from me after I had it for one short month to replace her aging dell notebook... I was also happily suprised with the accessories: very nice carry case, tons of spare cables and remotes, and even a wireless mouse.

Good brand in my mind...