>Was it a low-end Dell? There are so many models and sadly there is a large difference in reliability.

Yes, it was a somewhat low-end Inspiron.

> the reliability and customer satisfaction rates are not as high on Dell as some of the others.

From what I've read, declining customer satisfaction has been the trend with Dell
in recent years. Perhaps a consequence of how big the company has become....
Whatever, my gripe is not that there was a bug in Dell's laptop -- bugs happen.
My strenuous objection is that such a significant problem has gone unrectified for such
a long time. So Dell can't plead ignorance -- that's pure neglect. I have zero doubt that
Dell has continued to sell its machines with full knowledge that this problem exists, and,
to me, that speaks volumes about the kind of company that Dell has become.

While I've admired Michael Dell since the early years of PC's Limited and his
10MHz/12Mhz screamers, today's Dell has lost me as a customer.