In 2006 I bought a fairly high-end notebook from Dell, with a 17" screen. I wasn't really happy with the fact that there was no numeric keypad, but I used it anyway. I had been a Dell customer for many years prior.
In 2011 it was time for another high-end notebook and I paid about a thousand dollars for one, again with a 17-inch screen. This time it had a numeric keypad. However, the keyboard was not lighted, and during boot time there was no indication of any kind whether the NumLk key was active or not. So if your password had numbers, you had to use the top row instead. Pain in the ass.
Six months later my new employer provided an HP notebook for me, with those missing features, and I started resenting my Dell.
Today, during a reboot, I asked myself why I should put up with such backwards crap, and I had no good answer. It'll be a year or two before I buy another computer, but I won't even look at Dell next time.
