Aside from the listed BEST/WORST options, building your own will always give you better performance, better quality and a better price if you do you research.
Apple computers are just for users who do not know how to use a PC correctly
Desktop Performance PC:
Best: Falcon Northwest (for build quality and performance)
Worst: Alienware (build quality went to crap and price went way up)
Desktop Average user PC:
Best: Asus (quality parts, nothing proprietary)
Worst: Dell (proprietary motherboards/power supply combos. Bargain basement parts across the board)
Desktop Business use:
Best: Dell (cheap and outstanding warranty)
Worst: HP (crap warranty, more expensive and horrible quality)
Laptops Performance:
Best: Dell XPS (quality parts, great warranty and rugged)
Worst: Alienware (overpriced, decent parts and not as rugged)
Laptops average user:
Best: Dell (outstanding warranty and good price)
Worst: Acer (horrible warranty, bad build quality, tons of driver issues)
Laptops Business use:
Best: IBM Lenovo (built like a tank, virtually no driver issues, great warranty)
Worst: Acer (horrible warranty, bad build quality, tons of driver issues)
HTPC:
Best: Shuttle (quality parts, great cases)
Worst: Sony (crappy parts, worthless features, horrible cases)
