"Dell are the biggest low-end computer manufacturer which are, for the most part, significantly cheaper than their competitors. You sacrifice build quality and

"Dell are the biggest low-end computer manufacturer which are, for the most part, significantly cheaper than their competitors. You sacrifice build quality and design to get that." You do have to sacrifice SOMETHING, and you're right that it's usually build quality and design... but you can do better than Dell for the price: www.powernotebooks.com They have a 99% rating on Reseller Ratings, and I got a better price from them even though I can get a company discount buying from Dell (my employer buys a lot of stuff from Dell, but I don't work for Dell). I'd like to find out who actually makes the laptops for Dell. I'd guess that Dell uses several of the major laptop ODM's.