Yes Dell is a good desktop for general uses never tried a notebook dell before, the only thing I can say i would worry about is that dell and gateway (desktop and notebooks) our a unique design so it can be a little more $ for simple hardware upgrades.
Do one favor for me before you buy check cons. ratings against a dell and toshiba of the same equivelant before you buy I did and for 2 yrs. now ny toshiba laptop has not let me down.

p.s. my upgrades are dirt cheap.