quoting something that says the opposite of what you're trying to say and simply saying it's fiction is far from a substantiation of what you want it to say.
Even though I failed to see the relevance, I tried searching for some citations that "thugs are picking up". Then I realized it was an artifact of your dictation software... and was unable to determine what it was supposed to say.
... oh, "things". Well, things is a purposely vague word that could mean anything. I could post a link that says that 70's fashions are making a small comeback in some small rural American town and still fit your request. So I'm going to purposely ignore said request based on the fact that it's so easily satisfied. What "things"? and what does it mean when they "pick up"? And MORE IMPORTANTLY: what in the blazes does that have to do with Windows 7? And what does windows 7 have to do with the topic of choosing a manufacturer to begin with?
And then you go on to suggest they use an operating system that is in extended mainstream support, completely blowing out of the water pretty much any warranty and limiting one to the <very set> of manufacturers that WILL be out of business in a year. providing XP may seem "advantageous" to the customer and the vendor but really they are both on the losing end of the deal. Since XP is now in Extended support the vendor has to field every single query about it while the product is still under warranty, and can't pull the old "call MS" trick that is so common among manufacturers. Additionally, the customer loses out simply because they almost always end up with a sub-par machine that is only given XP because it doesn't meet the requirements of either Vista or 7, otherwise they could put 7 on it and actually market it to people who aren't living in the past.
The funny part is, people predicted the exact same thing for every single other x.1 release. Windows 3.1 is going to tank in a year, they said in 1993. It didn't. Windows 98(4.1.1998) is going to tank in a year, they said. Windows XP (5.1) is going to tank in a year, they said.
And now windows 7. Well the interesting part is that it would appear that every single OS release there are people who say it is going to work great and there are people who say it's isn't. at least one side is right about it and every single time the side that said it was going to tank has been dead wrong. I think the trend is rather clear and betting against it is foolish, and the reasons you do so are easily exposed simply because you recommend XP. you say to look for a vendor providing XP, and yet provide no clearcut reason why this is advantageous. Why? Evidently the entire suggestion as well as the providing quotes and claiming they are fiction is simply due to you're own resistance and even contempt for change.
I say find a company that will stay in business.
You say that like it's easy. How can one even pretend to predict the economic factors and business decisions that come into play that cause a company to go out of business? Sure, you can make otherwise vague predictions based on incomplete and possibly out of context observations on a companies dealings, but even then it's as inexact as predicting the weather.
I think the main issue to consider here is why go with a so-called "name brand" PC manufacturer? From what I've seen, they <all> cheap out on components, especially for their "value" systems, they shirk windows logo requirements and they all have rather questionable customer service that is almost always outsourced, and is completely useless because <within a year" your system is somehow out of warranty (regardless of the "three year warranty" that it supposedly came with).
The Best way to get a computer that can be supported and warranty'd and do what you want it so simply build it yourself- choose all the various components and budget wisely to meet your needs. While OEM vendors get bulk discounts and may pass this along to their customers, they often don't and additionally the components you decide to scrimp on are completely up to you in the case of a custom build.
of course, this still leaves laptops, with are prohibitively expensive to build from scratch. Rather then a vague concept like "make sure they will still be in business in a year" instead it might be best to suggest a metric that can be used to measure wether said company will still be in business. The most important is simply experience. It's easy to do a google for "I hate <manufacturer>" or "<manufacturer> sucks" and you will almost always get loads and loads of hits.
Personally, I've never bought a pre-manufactured PC... at least, not one that is new. I got an old used Dell but that hardly counts. However, as far as Laptops go, I can vouch for Toshiba. I still have a 440CDX that is 15 years old and still works great, somewhat the worse for wear, of course. One major disadvantage often cited of Toshiba products is that their hard drives do not have a diagnostic utility. This is true; however, it's important to note that while having such a utility in the eventuality of hard disk problems is helpful, it is neither strictly required nor something that I have needed in 15 years.
Also, some later models (such as my L300) don't even use a Toshiba Hard drive anyway, so they can use the proper manufacturer diagnostic.
