sounds like you just had a bad experience... The inspiron is the pro line... The latitudes are just low end models. I have my 8600 on at least 8 hours a day and sometimes more.
I also lord over quite a number of dell desktops at work as well and if we call for tech support we get someone there within 4 hours of the call. But to be honest... In the last 4+ years we've had leases with Dell... We've had to call a tech twice. Once a motherboard took a crap and once a hard drive took a dump. That's it.
I, on the other hand, never cared for the thinkpads... But laptops are, I think, a very personal preference based item. You find one you like the feel of and you'll stick with them forever. :)
I also lord over quite a number of dell desktops at work as well and if we call for tech support we get someone there within 4 hours of the call. But to be honest... In the last 4+ years we've had leases with Dell... We've had to call a tech twice. Once a motherboard took a crap and once a hard drive took a dump. That's it.
I, on the other hand, never cared for the thinkpads... But laptops are, I think, a very personal preference based item. You find one you like the feel of and you'll stick with them forever. :)