I can't say for sure, but I think I ordered a Dell at lunchtime today. Confidence is high. The order status says "In Production" and my Dell Preferred Account Available Balance dropped from $5000 to $3404.58, so those are two positive indicators that a new Inspiron E1705 is heading to Vermont.
I went with an Inspiron E1705 with a 17" monitor, DuoCore processor, 120GB HD, XP Pro, 2GB of RAM. If it's good enough for Jimmy Shaw, then it's good enough for me. And I followed his advice this time with the Dell online order process, "Keep your eyes down and walk straight to the checkout. Don't go back for another look."
A big THANK YOU to all of you who shared my pain and offered advice after my Dell order fiasco a few days ago. You guys are too good to me. As for considering laptops from other companies, I guess I always figured I was going to buy a Dell laptop. And since the last laptop I bought was in 1995 I had a lot of time to think about it. Even if I had to buck-up, shake off a bad experience, turn my head and cough, I was going to try again, darn it.