What brands are suggested?
"What brand" is already the wrong question. All brands have different sub-classifications of laptops. QC across the different types is generally similar across the board. The notable exception for most would be Apple - since, for now, they seem to build all their machines to very high QC standards.
What series/type should be more correct for most PC laptops. From general experience, business-class laptops generally are the longest lasting and most reliable, and of course limited to those actually bought by large businesses and not those that claim they are business laptops, so the notable 3 come to mind: Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell Latitude/Vostro and some XPS, HP Elitebook/Probook. Also popular brands include Fujitsu Lifebook and Toshiba Dynabook. You typically won't see the likes of Asus deployed in large MNCs. There's a reason for it - business class laptops can have up to 5 years warranty by the manufacturer, and have very long usage hours (5-6 days a week, 12-14h a day kind). Also, businesses buy hundreds/thousands of laptops at once, so losing an account due to QC issues means they lose a lot of business, and IT guys share experience so losing one account could mean losing more than one account in the industry.
For consumer laptops, some are rated higher than others. For Lenovo, their Yoga series appears built to a higher QC compared to their entry-level Ideapad series. For Dell, their Inspiron number gives their product sub-classification, with 7>5>3 . Consumer laptops are also targeted at consumers who will occasionally use their computers. In this, there is a subset of gaming laptops targeting gaming enthusiasts. Here in this class, specifications is the game - to catch customers. But typically they come with 1-2y warranty by manufacturer, though some have up to 4y options that cost more. Not all do though, so this is a good indicator how they trust their own products. Consumer class, you buy one at a time. Not happy, just jump to another - the loss of one customer does not affect them at all. Moreover, they are priced cheap because they want you to buy another when your laptop gets too slow or fails.
Warranty mileage is also different: consumer laptops are for those who go home after work, do a little bit of computing and gaming and Netflix and all, then turn it off - 3h a day on average, even less for many users. One day's use for a business laptop could be more hours than a home user in a week. Simply, in 1 year, you would have used a business laptop as much as 5-6 times longer than a home laptop.
The non-discounted pricing is generally reflective of their position in the line up.
As with anything, there is a hit and miss. You could get a fantastic Ideapad that lasts you 4-5 years, and you could get a lemon from a business laptop. But generally speaking, all things being equal, the truth is, there are laptops built better than others.
It depends on what you want. As stated above, if price is your main consideration, just get the cheapest one that ticks your boxes, and buy another one down the line when it breaks down. Me, I like to use my laptops for as long as possible, and I've had Macs last 8-10y comfortably, and Thinkpads about 5-6y. Cost divided over ownership/use time actually is cheaper than buying a new laptop every 2-3y.
