I also turn locals who ask me for advice on buying a computer - I tell them to go to one of the local shops instead of Dell. The big selling point is service - I ask them, "do you want to ship your computer back to Dell, out of your pocket, have them wipe all your data out, then tell you the problem is fixed, only to have it start again three days later, or take it to a local shop, wait half an hour, then take it home again?"

They generally go with the local shop.