I think my desktop started off as an HP. It was 666 MHz. I never had a problem except the power supply fan got dusty and stopped and I had to buy a new power supply. Since then I changed out the power supply once more.

I never had a problem with hp or compaq. I had a compaq laptop which lasted 4 years. I had a couple of Dells which lasted 2 years. It is really about how you treat the hardware.

 

I will never buy a dell after they screwed a bunch of us over with their shitty fans. Their build quality is crap IMHO. I work for Lenovo and have to say that they have totally murdered the ThinkPad brands, it's just crap these days. HP is indeed garbage, I have a Compaq 286 laptop and it's been a workhorse. In fact it still runs! But after the HP merger you couldn't get me to buy one if it shat golden rainbows.

I am tempted to try an asus laptop, long been a fail of their boards.
Also looking at gscreen, if they can ever get a model on the market.

 

Man, I could never bring a Netbook or any laptop in a classroom. For jotting down notes, I still like the old-fashion way of using a pen and paper.