Hi,
I've not seen anybody else mention this here and while my opinion of Dell 
kit is well established, I think it is still Linux news worth mentioning:
  Dell has started selling selected UK computers with Ubuntu Desktop
  Edition instead of Windows, just like it's been doing in the US for the
  last few months.
     http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029450,49292120,00.htm
Also of note from the article is this snippet about Ubuntu support from 
Canonical:
  If you'd rather play safe, you can get a service upgrade from Canonical,
  the company behind Ubuntu. It offers 30-day 'get started', one-year
  'basic', and one-year 'standard' software support for 40, 80 and 170
  respectively.
There is also mention of a Dell Linux forum which might be of interest to 
Dell owners who already run Linux on their machines:
    http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board?board.id=sw_linux
   Andy