Dell gets its low prices through sleazy accounting tricks like refusing to pay for something that's in their warehouse until it's actually installed in a system, thereby making their suppliers eat the cost of inventory, and by switching suppliers and components in a particular system model whenever the mood strikes them. They also do no product engineering of their own; they simply buy components from other vendors and slap them together into a system. The result is that you don't know what you're getting when you buy a Dell...except that it's crap.
I disliked Dell even before I went to work for Compaq. Working there just cemented my dislike for them.
Anyway, I STILL haven't gotten my boss's system running, and it's beginning 1) to make me look bad and 2) to royally piss me off.