PayPal is nowhere near as good for disputes as a credit card. They have very specific rules and requirements and side with the merchant far more often than credit cards do.
If you fund the payment with a credit card, however, you should have more protection. I say "should" because it's been my experience but I'm not sure it's universal.
I had a bad transaction several years ago. I tried to get the seller to refund. No luck. I disputed it through PayPal. They said it had been too long and refused to do anything. I had funded the transaction through American Express, so I disputed it there. PayPal then accepted the dispute and it went through.
I think you still have the best protection directly through a credit card, but funding a PayPal transaction with a credit card is better than from your balance or through another source.
(Side note: You can't fund with a credit card if you have a balance, but there's a pretty simple workaround for that. Transfer your balance to another email address, pay the transaction, then cancel the transfer.)