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I have a Starling Netbook from system76. Nothing to write home about, but I've had few, if any real problems with it.

It's a little flimsy, physically.

And I am a proud free software zealot, so I moved it to debian.

Hmm... if it's flimsy I probably wouldn't like it. One thing I don't like about Apple hardware is how you have to treat it like a family heirloom or it turns into a scratched up mess. Anything less hardy than that would be unusable.

Toughbooks are also promising, but they're light on the specs... could someone please make a durable and well-specced laptop?

IBM?

IBM laptops aren't anymore - bought by Lenovo a few years ago.

I wasn't particularly gentle with my MacBook Pro and it never got scratched or damaged.

I moved to a Thinkpad (from a Powerbook) two years ago and couldn't be happier. Ubuntu just works and the hardware feels more solid that the Powerbook did.

That's strange, because I also have a System76 Starling and it seems very sturdy to me. I even dropped it once and it was none the worse for wear. It's been a very hardy and well-functioning machine for me.

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