Are brands important to you? Which ones?  

You should be able to discover who the OEM manufacturer of your parts with the part number and serial number on the PCB as well as the name on the chipset(s) and aid from an internet search(s).

However, I am in agreement with you. Especially with respect to average users. Do you have any favorite brands for components? Perhaps you only use NVidia graphics cards and you don't trust ATi/AMD?

I am not too much into branding. At the moment, I am looking at achieving the balance between power efficiency and performance. Most of the leading manufactures engage in a deadlock for the race to become the best in the industry. If consumers are over involved with the technology, they might find that constant upgrade of parts and switching of brands is needed over short period of time. I always go for technology that is already 6 months old or even more as the prices are likely to be a lot more cheaper and I can afford to buy things that the prices are not at its peak since I am not a hardcore gamer nor a graphics intense user.

Those are all quality brands. Did you know that the people who founded Asus were former Acer employees? Also Maxtor was aquired by Seagate Technology in 2006. I have never used a BenQ notebook.

You must have hated that "Dude you're getting a Dell" guy.

Dude, I wanted to smack him upside the head....lol

So you don't trust the barebones/DIY notebooks offered? Asus and OCZ are reputable companies that offer many barebones notebooks. Would you consider an assembled Toshiba, Fujitsu, LG, Asus, OCZ or Acer laptop if the price was right?

I haven't looked at barebones notebooks, since it is not easy to get such things where I live (one could order them from the web but for me personally it's too much trouble).

As for the brands I listed in my original comment, these are only my personal preference, which I have found to be trustworthy. It doesn't mean that I would not buy some other brand if the price is right, the build quality top notch and the specs meet my requirements, but as most people, the tried and true tends to get first priority on the shopping lists.

YMMV of course, and happy mylotting :)

How true. I shop the same way. Of course, even if the specs wow me, I still research and read reviews before I take the plunge outside of my go to brands. Thanks and Cheers.

I have never actually used a MAC, but I have heard nothing but great things about them. I like to build and customize my own PCs, so going with Apple wouldn't have filled my needs. I also use and like Linux OSes and enjoy an open source environment. I hear that MACs are user-friendly and rock solid when it comes to stability. I would like to get my hands on a MAC in the future so that I can familiarize myself with it and MacOS, so that I am better able to recommend them to less expired and less computer savvy people.

I really do love the Apple commercials with the actors representing PC and Mac. They are hilarious and I often find myself in long conversations about them with others.