I sell brand name computers as a part time job and what I found about the
Sony's is that you tend to pay too much for the specs they give you. As
well, we have had a few of them come back to the store because the hard
drives would become defective or the floppy drive did not write anymore and
things like that. But I must say that in the past 3 months or so I haven't
seen any of our Sony's come back (mind you we don't sell them as much as
HP/Compaq's).
As for dell, excellent deals. Just try to get all your answers about the
computer and warranty before you commit to a purchase and have it in writing
by Dell.
So between the two, I'd go for a Dell over Sony. But honestly, I'd go for a
clone over either of the two.