I doubt you will get anything that will look much cop in 5 years time. For example I have at home an IBM thinkpad which is about 7 years old and would have been top top spec for 2002, but now 1ghz PIII, 30 gig HDD, 256meg ram, 8meg! shared graphics looks (and apart from for surfing/basic office use) and performs very poorly. Due to laptops having limited upgrade capacity, I would not ever buy one that you intend to last you more than about 3 years. Am not going to start on the Apple thing because I think I have made my feelings pretty clear on that issue over the time.
I would look for something that has around 500 gig hdd, 4 meg of ram and a dual core processor around the 2-2.5 ghz mark, and if possible dedicated graphics. Also a Bluray drive and HDMI out.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169018 Is and example, although I am sure you could find the same specs a lot cheaper by avoiding Sony, who I am told make shyte laptops anyway.