friend had a HP and it broke, failed and was no longer usable after about a year
Yea well I had a Toshiba that had a hard drive fail 2 weeks into owning it... and when I got it repaired the techs spilled coffee all through it an didn't tell anyone and a year later when they opened it up because the left mousebutton wasn't working the motherboard was completely corroded.
They then wouldn't own up to it, even though the only 4 people to have ever used my Laptop DON'T DRINK COFFEE!
So Toshiba are a no no...
Also the HP has a 7200rpm HDD which trumps the Toshibas 5400rpm ones.
HP also have better tech support. My mum has had her HP laptop for 2 years and it's great.
Oh and the Gloss finish on the Toshibas are the most annoying thing ever...