I'll admit I'm a big Thinkpad fanboy, but IBM really do deliver, my LCD, while not faulty, had a bit of light bleed (common on notebook LCDs) and a very skilled technician came on site to replace it and did a stellar job at replacing it. ie: the chassis didn't feel wonky or worked on after it was re-assembled.
Onsite biz warranty does cost more, but imho it's worth it, especially if it's mission critical.
I like the netbook idea, if you only need basic office use, internet and email then a netbook is the way to go. Provided you can handle a small screen and smaller keyboard.