>I got a new Inspiron 9400 last week and like it a lot. Fast with a nice wide (17") sharp display.
>

I've been using a 9400 since a few days after they hit the market last summer. Absolutely first rate machine - fully Vista 32bit compatable too (I haven't had the guts to try 64bit).

That said, the reason I have the 9400 is because of the dogfight I had with Dell support over my failed 9100. It failed under warranty, and I went almost 3 weeks without a laptop playing games with support. the first week and a half were spend impressing upon them the fact that no, I can't reinstall XP on a machine that won't finish the power-up cycle. then they picked up the machine and a week later delivered it in the same condition(!). Finally after enough arguments with support that I got through to people who actually had a clue *and* spoke English well (I'm an American calling an American company on a US phone number - no political correctness needed - I expect English) and they shipped me a spanking new fully dressed out 9400 (bigger screen, double the memory of my 9100, more neat features).

My confidence in Dell support is at a very low level. I still would purchase another Dell (and we recommend them to many of our customers), but I try to keep a plan 'B' in mind in case of hardware failure.

For us, Dell hardware has has an extremely good reliability record and their pricing is usually very competitive. their support is the only black mark.