I would not buy a Sony laptop for a myriad of reasons. If you're considering a laptop in the Vaio price range, you should be looking at either the ThinkPad T series or the surprisingly inexpensive ThinkPad X61 (the latter is on sale for just $1050 right now). ThinkPads are durable, have unquestionably the best keyboards, the X series is lightweight, very easy to tote around, and has a good battery life, and the T series is a good balance of performance, weight, and battery life without a bunch of stuff you don't need. ThinkPads can be serviced anywhere due to IBM's good service network, all parts are readily available either from IBM or on eBay, and the machines are just well-designed. Sonys are lightweight toys in comparison with below average keyboards, though they do look good.
If cost is a factor, Dell does (finally!) have some good machines as well, though there is no question I would spring for a ThinkPad if I was shopping in that price bracket.
As nice as the other vendors are (Asus, Fujitsu, etc.), they don't have nearly as good service networks in the US as either Lenovo/IBM, Apple, and Dell. In university you don't want to be without your laptop for a long time if it breaks.
Finally, since your software requirements are modest, there's no reason not to consider a Macbook. Good all-around package, good battery life, not a lot of headaches. Either that or get a ThinkPad.