Robert,
I can only judge a computer by how it works for me. My Dell is less than a year old. It has crashed twice already keeping me down a total of three weeks. The only good thing is they did come to the house and repair it both times (no charge). It has been two months since last crash and I am keeping my fingers crossed. The first time it cost me $200 for data recovery but they did cover half of that after I sent a letter to the President of Dell. No matter what you buy today, the consumer has to remember that all companies are operating on the same principle. Cut manpower, cut services, cut quality and raise prices. I think it's time for a consumer revolution.