Best desktop brand

I use a Dell 2.2GHz dual Xeon at work and it is really fast.  If you are having troubles opening a folder, I have found that network related accesses which the system waits to finish cost me time, even though I am only looking at my local drives.  Check for a faulty NIC or a problematic network connection.

I would say neither one of the name brands. I've worked on PC's for a while, including DELL, HP, and SONY. The Alienware system you have is faster because it's custom built and all the parts are higher quality. The Dells are good for mainly getting a PC at a cheap price. The problem is name brands sometimes have to cut corners with either hardware or software to keep the price down. I personally feel that a custom built system is the way to go for PC's, because it gives you the ability to change parts out easier if it dies or upgrading old hardware.

Diangsystems,

  I'm wondering how much memory is installed and maybe adding more memory would speed up when the times are slow. I suggest to try to defrag the hard drive every two weeks or every month depending on how much the PC is used. If you add more memory, then it would be much cheaper than buying new PC's.

The new Dell XPS series is offering alienware a serious run for there money.  Also no matter what label is on the box what matters is the hardware you pick out.  If you take the Dells XPS throw in a P4 3.2 Extreme CPU a Raedon 9800 XT PRO GPU 1024mb DDR400 and 2 74GB 10,000 RPM HDD RAID 0 you now have a computer that will definelty give alienware a run for its money...and for under 3000....you can't beat it..... The only bad part about dell is they use Intel motherboards that offer no options to play with....Could be a good or bad thing pending on the user.  

Off topic:
Although when the new pci bus technologly finnally does come out alienware will be cutting edge again with there dual video card setup....

also check out the precision workstation line if you want high end stuff, muilt processors, onboard scsi/raid, lots of memory capacity, and to reduce the cost you can order with lower end graphics cards if you don't need something like the radeon 9800

Build your own or have someone or computer shop build one for you, I had one built for a little more then I could have done it on my own and got a 3 year on sight warranty.  I have been using PC's for a very long time and learned that when you buy from Dell, HP, or Gateway all you are paying for is the name and the service as for the parts they mostly low grade.  Build your own and get all the best parts and sometimes get an even better warranty when a shop builds one for you.