Several people I know have Dells. My sister's had a problem with the keyboard, and I think it got fixed pretty quickly if I remember right. Sounds kinda hit and miss as far as their customer service goes then, but from my second-hand experience it didn't seem that bad. Maybe the problem is between Dell's sales and service departments or something.
If you're mostly doing business apps for cons and stuff for school, you probably don't need something with a heck of a lot of bells and whistles. I would take a look at what things are important to you (like battery life, weight, dimensions, heat, etc) and check out what's available from the "larger" companies. I think you're more likely to get support from the company and feedback from other customers that way.