I have an XD-45 tactical as my house gun, which I love. It's swallowed everything I've ever fed it without a single hiccup, it's ergonomic as hell, and I just can't praise it highly enough.
On the other hand, I've personally never seen an S&W autoloader I've liked. Love their revolvers, but wouldn't have one of their autos. I work for a police department that used to issue S&W 9mms (it's Glocks now). I had to carry a 6906 for my first several years. Never liked it, and experienced a few malfunctions at the range (not the shooter induced kind either) which tended to sap my confidence in the thing.
Then they replaced the 6906s with 5946 TSWs. I hated that damn brick! It was way too heavy (and I say that as a guy who prefers all steel guns like the 1911 and Hi Power), the grip wasn't at all comfortable, and the reliability was so poor, the department had to take back the first two I was issued and return them to Smith & Wesson. The third one I carried for about two years, and had even less confidence in it than the 6906. After only two years as our issue sidearm, the department finally got fed up with all the problems we were all having with the 5946 TSW and switched over to the Glock.
Now I realize that the M&P is an entirely different pistol. I know this. But the fact is that by the time I was issued that craptastic 5946, Smith & Wesson had been making service autos for about a half a century, and they still pretty damn clearly hadn't got it right. Consequently, S&W is going to have to do something pretty spectacular to persuade me to buy one of their autos ever again.