HP vs Dell vs ASUS

I am seriously considering replacing my current old laptop with one of the above. I have been putting it off for some months because my laptop seemed to show signs of renewed vigor (the hard disk seemed to be dying at one point as well as the LCD hinge).

I know that getting an Inspiron is a bad idea - the construction is flimsy and not really for people who travel with their laptop like I do. Labreastudes on the other hand are rock solid and many colleagues have used them for years.

I also know that Thinkpad quality has really nosedived ever since Lenovo took over from IBM. Several colleagues report memory and hard disk problems. Nearly unheard of problems in the good old days.

I have considered Macs but they seem overpriced for essential features (hard disk size, memory, screen size - I want at least 15" since I work with it all day, etc.) compared to other vendors and they are much heavier than their Dell counterparts.

I have read that HP offers some laptops that are certified for use with Linux and even come without an OS installed (saves me Microsoft tax that I can use on some hardware). ASUS, though they do not sell their laptops directly, can be had through vendors who will not install an OS if you so desire.

My usage is fairly heavy. I would prefer an accelerated video card, but that is not an absolute must. Any laptop I get is going to get wiped clean followed by a fresh install of Debian testing, so what software it ships with is irrelevant to me. I would rather get some extra hardware than the software crud many laptops ship with. Needless to add, I want all the hardware on it to be Linux compatible - so no non-working softmodems, etc.

Price must be sensible. Perhaps up to $1200 or so.

Suggestions are welcome.