I have one 2 generations behind (XPS 13 9360) and I have to tell you your fears are completely justified. I was a long-time Thinkpad user (had a Z-series, T42,

I have one 2 generations behind (XPS 13 9360) and I have to tell you your fears are completely justified. I was a long-time Thinkpad user (had a Z-series, T42, X1 carbon) but switched because the screen was just so pretty. While I was initially very happy, I've had tons of issues around both the build quality and support. When my machine started refusing to charge, my "next day on-site service" extended warranty turned into "you called 20 minutes too late, so it's actually in 2 days" and then "Oh, while we confirmed the appointment time with you, we never did with the tech, we'll find out when they're coming" and then "Oh yeah, they're not actually coming today, you have to take another day off work too". Then, after the tech managed to replace my main board without any ESD protection and it started completely hard locking up every 5 minutes (even in their own diagnostic tool and the EFI setup tool) it took me several days worth of phone calls and emails before they swapped it out. Of course, about a year later, I started having problems with the SECOND laptop they'd sent me and had to send it back to have parts replaced. A few months later, right after the warranty expired, the screen started going crazy. I've found the right place to hit it to fix it whenever that happens (about once a month). Next machine I get, I'm going back to an X1 Carbon.