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Dells are alright. I dont understand how people bash them. You hear more complaints about them because so many people own them since they are so cheap.
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yes, high sales volume will predictably mean more problems, but the issue consumers have with dell is how bad they deal with the problems. Basically once you have your computer, they have made the sale and you have to beg and plead and wait on hold for hours to get anything done when it inevitably fails. Full warranty doesn't even cover you, because they will send you refurb parts that die in a few months. When people are getting brand new computers that don't work out of the box, there is something wrong with the company.
Kurosh did a thread like this awhile ago and he chose the apple macbook pro that I recommended and own myself. Apple probably doesn't have anything in your price range, but the features and customer service you get for the money make them well worth it.
macbook pro example
this is similar to what I use and what kurosh got, you can ebay a brand new top of the line one for ~1500 if you look hard enough.