I've had my Dell laptop for over 2 years now (getting close to 3). I've had a few problems with it, but I would buy from Dell again, because they have fixed it every time. Here is what has broken.
After one month, I noticed my CD/DVD-RW drive was making grinding noises when a CD was in. I called Dell, and a new one was here within 2 days.
My LCD screen started to develop some bad spots, like dust stuck between the LCD and backlight. Sent it off to Dell, came back in 2 weeks, but the new screen's backlight was DOA, so I sent it off again, came back within a week.
My IEE1394 port broke while inserting the cable for my camcorder. Dell sent a technician to replace the motherboard. The technician did not fully reseat the CPU and I had trouble turning the machine on. I called Dell, told them I was comfortable in reseating it myself, they led me through the steps, and I'm here today with a good laptop.
My most recent problem was a key broke off of my keyboard, Dell sent me a new keyboard within 2 days and also sent me some new rubber feet as mine were beginning to wear down.
I also UPGRADED to Vista last year when it came out... I'm pretty happy. I had Windows XP MCE before, and it was slow, even after a fresh install. Vista actually ended up being faster and I've had very few incompatibility problems. The only piece of software that I have that did not work was Solidworks 2007. AutoCad 2006 said that there were compatibility problems, but it runs fine. All the games I have work fine... I have Aero, Vista is very responsive, I'm happy. I was part of the beta tester programs for Vista, so I knew what I was buying before I purchased it.
Here are my system specs for anybody curious to how good of a laptop I have for Vista Home Premium:
Dell Inspiron E1505
Windows Vista Home Premium
Core Duo (Not Core 2 Duo) 1.66Ghz
1GB RAM
Mobility Radeon X1300 (64 Dedicated, 254 shared... weird... I know...)
80GB 5400RPM hard drive
CD/DVD-RW
Glossy Screen (one of my favorite options I had on my laptop
)
I'd buy Dell again, but when I go to college, I plan on getting a 15" MacBook Pro and installing Vista on a second partition using BootCamp.