A Sony with the same specs will probably be more expensive - that was the reason I bought my original HP laptop...for the price it had the best specs of any brand.
But I guess you get what you pay for. There seem to be far more horror stories of HP computers than any other brand.
Here is an article on some research done just a few months ago:
http://www.ditii.com/2009/11/18/asus...-and-hp-worst/
I've actually heard really great things about Asus machines from people I know who own them, maybe you could check them out.
(note that Sony is higher than Apple

)