Welcome back Doc It's probably a good decision to go to a proper lap top if you're on line a lot. Netbooks are OK for browsing, but like all things you get what you pay for, and a higher priced machine will usually give you better performance.
In my business we buy a lot of laptops and never have problems with Sony or Toshiba's and they do get a fair bit of stick by the users. HP's, Acers and Dell's don't usually last as long. Personally I've been using Toshiba's for 18 years and never had a hardware failure, it would take a lot to convince me to switch from Tosh, but a Sony is one brand I would consider