I won't analyze much the laptops since most of the companies don't build their own laptops but they give them to companies like Clevo, Quanta etc to build for them. Companies who build their own laptops are MSI and Asus, which i like and have a good enough product quality. Now about your new dell or alienware (dell's expensive product line) it's made by the company named Clevo. Of course Clevo isn't a bad company and have a good amount of achievements, such as first 17" screen on a laptop, first dual core processor on a laptop etc, so you must know this before you buy your new dell, fujitsu, hp, toshiba or whatever else. it's either gonna be Clevo or Quanta who build your laptop :) Lastly i want to say that you should test the laptop you're thinking to buy to see if you like its performance and most of all its keyboard. personally i dislike the laptop that comes with a "desktop-ish" keyboard... laptop keyboard must be silent! :)
Moving on to Desktops...
I never bought a 'ready' desktop because i have noticed the following things on every single company...
