At least Dell has good service if your laptop dies...but yeah, with that, a desktop would've done you better. And the XPS is Sweet, I admit. =)
However, even with laptops, you gotta watch out for what they put IN the thing. I have an HP laptop - but the HD - from Toshiba...:170: died on me TWICE. Of course, I have used the hell out of it...but still. The HP itself, however, has given me no trouble. I find that HP's are a good, solid product...my only gripe is that their desktops make modding very frustrating and annoyingly difficult. But oh well. It's still running fine with a few upgrades - running mine since 8 years ago...haha, that was when Win 98 was the main platform! :laugh: