Looking at The Consumerist, Dell's good only if you don't need their customer service. If you think you'll need to call in at any point, plan on it taking a while, and be prepared to call several times.

They were the ones with the biggest problems with the laptop fires, but those were because of faulty batteries more than the laptops themselves. The construction of the laptops didn't help all that much, but, provided you don't use an off-brand battery and pay attention to battery recalls, it shouldn't be an issue.