Forbidden Donut

I bought a laptop in May of 06, and thoroughly enjoyed it for about 6 month. Considering I paid about $1500 for it to be a gaming laptop I expected it to last me a number of prosperous year. Following the 6 months of joyous use, it started acting funny. Funny as in, it would shut off randomly from overheating. It would get extremely slow for hours at a time, and it just started to become an expensive paper weight. I purchased it from a company who i was told was respectable and would give me good value. Little did I know, they sucked dick, and really sent me a crappy machine. I didn't do my homework regarding the company, and found out they were notorious at finding loop holes out of warrentees, and exact model of machine i had purchased was known to be a dud. My phone calls were futile as about 6 months ago they sold to a company in China, and speaking to someone who knows english requires hours of waiting as they undoubtedly fly someone across the pacific ocean while you stay on hold. The BBB gave them a poor rating and I somehow missed all this, blinded by the thoughts of getting a nice computer.

Now that I've vented on the issue, I need to find a new laptop as the one I own has taken its last breath.

I am to the point where i just want to buy a name brand laptop, based on the logic that a name brand company didn't become a name brand with bad customer service. I'm no longer interested in getting a gaming one. I pretty much want something that will store my music, play dvds and allow portable use for schooling and such. With such low standards, I'd hope to pay $500-1000 for such a machine, BUT, I do expect it to last longer than 16 month. Lets shoot for three years.

Please offer company names, unique experiences and any professional advise, as it will greatly impact my choice in purchases. Links would be nice too here, considering I'm a bit illiterate to new technologies.