I don't buy a lot of computers, so this can change at any time without me noticing, but: I think there's basically two Dells. There's the Dell that sells the cheapest equipment you can buy. This Dell sucks as much as anyone else. Don't expect miracles. Then there's the Dell that sells upscale gear. This is usually pretty good, or at least has the ability to be pretty good. I have appreciated the ready access to service manuals and such, too.
I say this because it's unwise to hear that Dell has pretty good gear, then go to their site and buy the cheap stuff. It isn't necessarily any worse cheap stuff than anybody else, but it's not what people mean when they say Dell can have pretty good gear.