The Inspiron 1420 is sure to make a lot of people happy -- it manages to pack in a lot of power for a good price, and will be perfect for almost any application you choose. If you're a gamer though, go for a higher model.
The Lenovo 3000 N200 is quite a nifty notebook which verges on desktop replacement. Once all the extra useless software has been stripped off, it's a robust and well performing system that is sure to find a home slung to the shoulder of a few office execs.