And if it was HP or IBM that you worked with for those 10 years it would be the same comment.
I just recently bought a Dell and I LOVE it. I had desktops which were all HPs though. Ill tell ya what NOT to get when it comes to laptops lol a Gateway. Anyway you can buy Dells on a few sites for a really good price... if you take the time to shop around a little bit. I bought my Dell Inspiron on bestbuy of ALL places for like $600 and its maxed out to the rim with extra features and stuff.
I think in the end it depends on what you are going to use the laptop for and what OS you get.
I've bought,sold and worked on thousands of Dells and other brands of laptops. Dell gets my vote for quality and durability hands down.
Precision M90 for me.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/vostronb_1510?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd