Best: Falcon Northwest
Worst: Apple or Alienware.
Dell - Dell offers decent support, great bulk pricing, and generally does an excellent job of targeting the low-end market. My only complaint against Dell is that they uses those little dinky cases that aren't too strong and practically require pulling the whole PC apart to swap memory.
HP - A step up from Dell in quality and price. HP is pretty much par when it comes to computers. Not great, not awful, and has something for everyone.
Gateway - I haven't had a Gateway experience in forever so I can't say much on these folks.
Apple - Their hardware is pretty shitty. In my experience, 3 out of every 4 macs have hardware issues within 1-2 years. That's based on experience with Mac Book Pros and Mac Minis. Considering the premium Apple users pay and the limited hardware options available, Apple really has no excuse for this level of unit failure IMO.
Toshiba - If HP is about par then Toshiba is maybe a step above par. Can't speak for their desktops but they make some very, very nice laptops.
Sony - I've heard mixed things about Sony so I'd probably put them on par HP.
Alienware - Alienware makes Apple's premium look bad. You get Dell-quality craftsmanship with a very, very expensive logo.
Falcon Northwest - Very expensive but very, very good. I wouldn't pay for one because computer technology advances so fast, but these guys do great work.
