You might consider asking on a dedicated laptop forum, where people with a lot of experience with all kinds of laptops can help you find the best laptop for your needs:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16
For reliability, you might consider buying a Lenovo Thinkpad, probably a T61 or T61p. Thinkpads are widely regarded to be the most reliable and durable laptops, probably second only to Panasonic Toughbooks. Unfortunately I remember reading somewhere that Thinkpads are twice as expensive in the UK than they are in the US, but I don't know if that's still true.
Dells business line of notebooks are also supposed to be very reliable, although I personally don't think highly of their XPS line because the m1330 has the tendency to fall apart over time (I've seen it in store models, while a similar (better) competing laptop still looks brand new, and head a lot of stories about it).
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16
For reliability, you might consider buying a Lenovo Thinkpad, probably a T61 or T61p. Thinkpads are widely regarded to be the most reliable and durable laptops, probably second only to Panasonic Toughbooks. Unfortunately I remember reading somewhere that Thinkpads are twice as expensive in the UK than they are in the US, but I don't know if that's still true.
Dells business line of notebooks are also supposed to be very reliable, although I personally don't think highly of their XPS line because the m1330 has the tendency to fall apart over time (I've seen it in store models, while a similar (better) competing laptop still looks brand new, and head a lot of stories about it).