I have a S&W Performance Center that I love...just a great gun has been excellent as far as reliability and at 20 yards it makes one hole in the target. I have shot other Smith 1911s as well and they all have been excellent. My only gripe about it as an HD gun is that it does not have the ability to mount a flashlight, but I'm looking into remedies for that as we speak. I considered trading it for an HK45 due in part to it having no rail, but common sense got the better of me and I kept the 1911. I have shot a bunch of S&W 1911s at their factory/range as well (probably the only benefit of living in MA as far as gun ownership goes is being fairly local to this place), and I talked at length with the guys at their range about the demo pistols there. Granted, they work for S&W, but they said that they had not had a rental 1911 break on their range to that point, whether production or Perf. Center.
That said, unless you feel strongly otherwise, I would opt for a 1911 with a rail just so you have the opportunity to mount a flashlight if you felt the need.
Basically, as long as you get one from a good maker, you will not go wrong. I love my Smith, but I did buy it partially due to the lack of other 1911s in my state. My choices were basically Para and Smith, and I chose Smith hands down. If I had my choice of anything, though, I probably would have gotten the railed Springfield Armory model. Their customer service is on par with S&W and everything I have heard about their quality is the same as S&W-second to none.
All that is if I bought NIB, which I did. Now, used is a different story, and I would look hard at sites like gunsamerica.com and gunbroker, because you can find some excellent deals on used pistols that would have been out of your price range new, and might have a lot of features that you would like to have on a pistol that might make it too expensive brand new.
Good Luck, and I hope you find yourself a great 1911!