Hmm, maybe I should have said something else. I've got an HP desktop, still has Vista on it. I recently (as in it's only turning a week old tomorrow) bought a Toshiba. My understanding they're newest ones are really good now, on par with other laptops with Windows operating systems... granted I just got the latest version (only been out at Best Buy for about a week) so it was on sale. Been having my roomie test it out until classes start up again in late August. I've had at least one HP laptop and it lasted me three years of hard grueling use from me before it started having real problems... I think it was year 5 that the CD drive started acting up on me and died. Granted I got that HP back in Summer of 2001. They've hugely upgraded since then. If you're getting a desk top I would say HP is a good buy still too.

Go with HP because Dells are pieces of crap. My Parents used to work for a computer company and dells where always breaking down and needing fixing. HP's have been getting a good reputation so far and I would recommend anything over a dell... so HP all the way!! 8D

HP Ftw XD

I have an HP and I loove it! That said, it isn't without problems. The first month I had it it died and wouldn't turn on. I had it looked at and it was just a bad RAM or something they replaced for free, no major problems since then, but it definitely gets so hot it'll burn you. Never crashed from overheating, but gets annoyingly sluggish. Its 2 years old now and I don't take the best of care of it, so that could account for some of its slowness

Other than that my problems with it were mostly Vista-related. It came with some weird media player things that were supposed to be all high-tech and awesome, but were really annoying and I uninstalled them.

Overall its definitely a good computer, with some quirks. I'd find out if the Dell is really any better before worrying about HP being bad. Everyone has a bad computer story, you know? HPs break and Dells break, but if the HP is cheaper and no less reliable, go for it. I like my HP.

Mac is my only love

well ive never used an HP myself but alot of people i know who have used both a dell and an hp pretty much all agree hp is a much better choice, like it was less buggy or something, idk, but i would say that hp is the wise choice given that it is cheaper and seems to have a good chance at being a better, or at least equal, quality machine

I prefer the Sony VAIO myself. Not too fond of HP because of some software troubles it's given me over the years, but my VAIO has worked wonderfully so far

I bought an HP (Pavilion dv6) recently and I like it well enough, except for one thing; when I adjust the volume it closes any fullscreen program (like a game or video) I'm running, and I havn't figure out how to make it not do that yet. The volume is controlled by a touch sensitive 'button', but the 'button' that disconnects me from my network is right next to the volume 'button' so I've got to be careful or I disconnect.

That's my only complaint with it. My cousin assures me that it's a fine gameing computer (exactly what I needed), and you can turn off the touch pad, which I really like. Also Windows 7, which I quite like so far.

LOVE HP! i personally own a gateway currently and miss my desktop HP. my BF had two dells and both were junk, there was always something wrong with them. i would personaly own eather an HP or gateway (HP being my 1st choice)

hee this spoiled brat has a HP laptop for home/personal use. and so does both my brothers and my dad. and dad who uses computers at work uses HP there too. we all love them. we used to all use dell before we discovered HP.
HP FTW
good luck with finding the right pc.