I have 3 Dells Lammchen and the oldest one is 10 years old and I use it everyday. The sedonc oldest is 5 and the newest is 1. Unfortunately the newest one blew a mottheboard this year. I've used Dell since they came out with laptops and have been very satisfied. The reason I stayed with them was because they were the only company that actually had compatible components when the first started production. That was on of the hardest things to accomplish when laptops first started out Anyone that had built desktops knew that it was a major problem on matching compatible components years ago.
We are an Apple family. Main reason is less down time, needing worked on less so expense is about the same overall. That has been our experiences anyway.