Which is today's leading affordable laptop?  

I currently own a desktop and was pretty satisfied with it until the thought of owning a laptop struck my mind,thinking of the advantages and portability indeed I have become much more of a good laptop searcher.I have browsed through the net,the available near stores and anyone available who know something or the other about them.
The price range would be till 1200$, I guess.I have a lot of doubts regarding the Companies,there's HP , DELL , TOSHIBA , LENOVO ,SONY.But when consulted to many dealers some say Hp laptops get screen complaints after a few month's use and the company wouldn't replace it (no servicing for that).For Dell they say complaints regarding the heating ,it gets heated too soon,and similar small small but noticeable troubles has made my head head go round
I need lots of help regarding this doubt of mine,paying money and later on thinking getting worries is so not happening,thus I would surely need a helping hand in this case,the configuration of the system would also be better in case of any troubles alter on dealing with the correct suited performance.