Need Laptop Brand Recommendation for Relative

My youngest sister in law just graduated from high school and is starting college soon. Need recommendations and why?!

My choices have always been:

HP
Samsung
Sony
Compaq
Lenova/IBM
Dell -definately not the Walmart ones.
ASUS- My Fav

Had bad experiences myself or have had friends shy me away from these:

Toshiba-few years ago they seemed to have a lot of recalls and some state attorney generals I think had sued them.
Gateway- Used to be decent to me, lately I think they arent all that great.
Acer- Bottom of the barrell, monitors are good.

If I'm forgetting something let me know.

Lenovo or Panasonic Toughbook.

My sister-in-law is also looking for a laptop, she's hell bent on getting a Macbook, but the people paying for it, my in-laws, aren't going for it.
I found several good ones on Newegg for around $350-400.

Let me know what you end up getting and why, to help me figure out what we should get her.

Thanks All!