For what it's worth, my experience closely mirrors oarsinsync's, as far as Dell vs. Apple consumer-level hardware support goes. The Dell tech who came to my ho

For what it's worth, my experience closely mirrors oarsinsync's, as far as Dell vs. Apple consumer-level hardware support goes. The Dell tech who came to my house (next day) had people skills as good as any Apple Genius, and better tech skills to boot. He was in and out in less than 45 minutes, and I think he finished less than 24 hours after I called Dell (though that isn't promised as part of the contract). I'm still happily in the Apple camp, mostly because I do appreciate the integrated ecosystem. However, there's simply no comparison when it comes to after-sales hardware support--Apple has a lot to learn from Dell. I don't doubt that you've had a better Apple Store experience than some of us, but: 1. I've had poor Apple service in several cities across the US, so I think good service is the exception rather than the rule 2. Many small/medium cities only have one Apple store (which is inconvenient) and rural places have none (which is worse). As far as I know, there are no geographical restrictions, within the lower 48, on where Dell will travel for next-day at-home service. 3. Dell at-home support costs about the same as AppleCare+.