My company uses exclusively Dell laptops with docking stations. I have had 2 so far. Out of the group that works for me (about 10-12 people), about half have had their motherboard replaced at least 1 time, the latches on the lid break quite a bit, the pins on the docking station push in, the serial ports fail frequently .... I guess what I am saying is although Dell does have great support, I would rather have a laptop that doesn't NEED support.
We purchased some IBM Thinkpads for a customer (PIII 500). I can whole heartedly recommend these laptops. Top quality, and about an order of magnitude faster than the dell's!!!!
Go IBM for the laptop. You won't be sorry.