[dded]

> It's not like after calling Dell and not getting an answer [...], you say "Oh, fuck it - I'm going to do gardening instead".

Perhaps not, but it influences the answer to your next question:

> Instead the major determinant is how good is your last laptop - is it good enough?

The more effort it takes to buy a new computer (given that I already have one), the less likely I am to buy one. Eventually customers get to the point of need, and buy. But sales could probably be noticeably higher if the purchase experience were straight-forward. In addition to the need-based sales, there'd be want-based sales.