The nature of building bare bones systems wouldn't be mainstream for non-tech users. There are links, such as the one I've previously provided, that detail build instructions for these systems.
As for Dell, I currently own 3 Dell Notebooks, in chronological order:
Inspiron 7000 - assembled in USA, best built of the 3- if I didn't purchase the 3 year extended warranty, it would have been thrown away because it fell apart!
Latitude CPXJ - replaced keyboard twice, display once, cd-rom once, hard drive once, graphics chipset stopped working.
Inspiron 8000 - this is my favorite, after 1 year battery stopped charging, could not recognize second dimm - crashed while booting, display frame and hinges are shot, DVD rom only recognized as cd-rom no matter the OS, built in LAN died. The best part about this is after searching Dell's forum, these problems have occurred in several other Inspiron 8000's, after swapping boards for people without resolution, Dell gave up on fixing them.
Why did I keep buying Dell, because I received a significant discount through work.
if you're gonna be a bear, be a GRIZZLY!!