I have been running Dell laptops but had a terrible time with service through dell on one this past year.  Last laptop I bought was a HP in Costco.  They were getting rid of an older model in the store and had a really good price on one there.  Was 8.1 and had touch screen as well as back lit keyboard (which is very nice to have).  

I also bought a refurbished netbook on dell's website once - has worked just fine.