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I can tell you with authority that the Dell Latitude E6xxx series of laptops is not what you want.
At work I oversee a fleet of 15 or so of them and they have been shaky. The 6500s are by FAR the worst. Way worse than the D series that they replaced.
Off the top of my head, here are the big 3 (over 1-2 year span):
Laptop 1 (my own personal one, so I can vouch that it has not been mistreated):
4 LCD screens
4 top cases
2 lower cases
2 Motherboards
2 Fans
1 Memory stick
1 Hard drive
Laptop 2:
2 LCD screens
2 Hard drives
1 Motherboard
Laptop 3:
2 Motherboards
1 Hard drive
1 daughterboard
I have gotten to know the Dell professional reps very well. Carson is my buddy. Also, I know the tech service reps by name. Ben is the young nerdy guy, Jeff is the heavy set one, and Mike is the Vietnam Vet.
Also, I have my service tag memorized...yeah...
After speaking with the Dell rep for a while he basically admitted that they are a bad design. In order to change the video card you have to disassemble the entire chassis. In order to replace part of the palm rests you have to replace the entire lower case. If you lose the rubber feet, that's another lower case. Can't just snap new feet in there.
If I were to go with another Dell it would be a Precision series. Those have been flawless and very good, performance-wise.
Personally I'd go HP or Toshiba for personal use. HP over the rest.
And with whatever model you get, buy a quality 1TB or larger external hard drive and run backups to that consistently.
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