Dell was once a great company, then they got too big, didn't offer much support.  I bought Gateway, great company, they went belly up.  Bought local, got conned worse than Dell or Gateway, now I'm back to Dell.

Dell is a lousy company, but for me, seems to beat Hp (used to be a great company) and others I have worked with.   I built my own, re-built Dells and Gateways, just cannot seem to trust any company very far, even for parts. 

I used to love the challenge of working on computers, as I get older I have lost my faith in any company.

For that matter, I don't have much faith in any corporate company these days.

I just have to stand by my Dells, imperfect as they may be, they have consistantly been better than anything else for me, but that is just my experience.