Common wisdom dictates that the top brands include Canon, Nikon and Olympus, but don't rule out others like Kodak, Fujifilm and even HP. It all depends on what your specific needs are. Here's a link to a site that lets you take a test to determine what your needs are and recommends what might be the best camera for you... http://www.thedigitalbeat.com/cameras.html . It also features reviews and comparisons of some of the leading digital cameras. Good luck!
I bought a PENTAX unit for my daughter and she's delighted and become very skilled with it. It's a 5 MP unit and comes with all the options and some very good software to aid in getting the photos into the computer. Good luck