My daughter has had a good run with Sony laptops, but these may be above your price point.
I heard a comment last night from a consumer item test group, who said that laptops have a better reliability record than desktop PCs, but only for brand names.
The cheapies had a bad rep.
Once again, the more you pay the better, providing it is a well known name.
Extended warranty is worth looking into.
My newish desktop came with 2Y warranty, and both hard drives failed with 2 months to go. The DVD burner then failed too. Just in time.
You might get some info off the web, but that will be mainly whingers. ask as many retailers what they suggest, and why.
Ask why they don't recommend the others they sell.
With a bit of cunning, you may glean something.
But then in my experience the sales people know less than I do about what I'm looking at buying.
I research a lot.