Hello and welcome to the forum. It's all a bit quite in here at the moment.
I like Dell mainly for their backup service. I don't how it works in America but over here in UK if we get a problem with a Dell device they will connect via the web if they can and sort it. If they cannot connect or cannot sort it they will come to my home, pick the device up, fix it and then return it. I don't have to go places PC World etc and talk to muppets.
Not so sure about HP. I've been bitten once or twice with HP devices so I don't bother with them any more.
Whatever I get the first thing I do is reinstall Windows. That way I get rid of ALL the useless junk that the manufacturers put on their computers that, inevitably, slows them down.