I don't really care about brand. I'll buy what's a good value. I admit that several of the Surly frames look nice. I'm not sure I'd buy any of their prebuilds though, none of them are really all that close to my ideal bike.

Recently I've seriously looked at REI bikes, but that's because they're extremely good value for money, especially with the 20% discount sale going on now. I'd probably wind up changing things on any bike that I bought, at least to get it ready for commuting; fenders, racks, lights, etc. and maybe changing a component or two (at least the saddle; whatever my primary bike is will get the Brooks saddle on it).