Dell build, please someone give me an ALTERNATIVE!

This goes against every thing I have ever read but I think I am going to have to advise my lil bro to go with dell.
Here is what I have put together on their site. If you see anything I could do differently please tell. If you know of any better options as far as price/quality goes would also be a relief.

Inspiron E1505 Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)

LCD Panel 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife

Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Professional

Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm

Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™Go 7300 TurboCache

Hard Drive 100GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive

Combo/DVD+RW Drives FREE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

Sound Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD Software Edition

Wireless Networking Cards Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless

Microsoft ™ Office ® 2003 Professional Academic RW

McAfee 3 year

Battery 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Nylon Backpack Carrying Case

Hardware Warranty 3Yr Ltd Warr, At-Home Service, 30Day DOC, PC Training, 2Yr Antivirus Suite

Accidental Damage Protection CompleteCare Accidental Damage Svc to 3Yr Lim Warranty

Windows Vista™ Capable

Total $2451.00
after rebates: $1392.47

for roughly the same money you can get him comperable equiped alienware sentia

Yup He has to keep up with Uncle Bill.

I went to Staples and got a Gateway MX7120, 512 MB, 100GB HD, Athlon64 2.2 GHz, 15.4" TFT, multicard reader, DVD-RW, and a few other goodies. $999 before $150 rebate. Also bought a decent, heavily padded case at WalMart for $39. Bought an APC mobile power converter, also at Stapels, for $49.95. 3 year buyer protection was $99. OS is WinXP Media Center 2005.
So far, the puppy is running like a dream and I've had no problems.
Catch the Sunday flyers in the newspaper. I'm sure you'll do beeter there getting a Gateway or HP for less money and no fear of the machine bursting into flames.