I'd go for a Dell myself *dreams about them black casings again*
and I wouldn't go near a Compaq ... of course there's always
the lovely way of purchasing the spareparts
you want (instead
of those the companies want you to have) and assembling the
computer yourself. Can be
much cheaper - but then you might
not get services like online/phone/on-site support and fancy
stuff like that.
Personally, I like the 'assemble yourself' solution the most...
.