i had 4 compaqs and i personally don't like compaq, only because of the sucky restore disk they give us. and with the newer compaqs you have to burn them your self.
i think dell is pretty good. never had 1 problem with any of my 3 dells. good support and good restore disks (its basically the windows disk with dells label).
but the best pc brand is the one u make your self