I currently use a Dell Inspiron 6400 and have been satisfied with it ever since (got it in late 2006). It's a good all-around laptop, and I haven't encountered any problems with it. On the downside it comes with a bunch of (trial) applications that you're never going to use. All in all, if more recent Inspirons are like this one, I would recommend it for all around use (school, home, whatever), but I wouldn't recommend it if you're a heavy gamer or plan on using other resource-intensive applications. In comparison, my sister had an HP Pavillion, which are apparently rigged with issues that cause the system to not start up, overheat, have graphical display problems, bios issues, terrible battery life, wireless connection issues... The sad thing is, HP knew about these problems, never really fixed them, and continue(d) to make and sell a number of Pavilion models with all of these problems. - She's considering getting a Mac, since they seem quite reliable and dependable.