Im in the market to buy a new notebook computer and I wanted any advise or opinions on weather to go with Gateway or HP both equiped the same way pretty much and close to the same cost…
Welcome to the SDMB, there is no factual answer to this, so it shouldn’t go in General Questions. Instead it should be in IMHO.
As for the question, I recentally bought a HP Pavillion dv9000 that I am very happy with. I haven’t had any problems with it so far. Even after bringing it to school every day for an entire semester. Its pretty light (one of my textbooks is heavier), and I haven’t had any issues with it.
I can’t imagine they do this anymore, however…
I knew a tech director in Mississippi who had something like 5 of 20 laptops that were bad in the same bunch. Gateway knew what the problem was, so they sent her 5 replacement motherboards.
She was expected to put them in herself. On brand new machines that were bad out of the box.
Desktops, sure. A little knowhow and there’s noting to it However, laptops are not something an average person should be taking apart. Even when you know what you’re doing you’ll probably find some extra screws left over…
-Joe
I bought a Gateway laptop (a fairly monster 17" desktop replacement) a few months before Vista came out (so thank Og, it’s running XP). It’s been nothing but purring for me since December or so. It’s quite nice at anything I need to do.
Granted, I bought one with the replaceable bits (memory, battery, hard drive) good enough out of box that I have had no need to think about replacement parts, and don’t expect I will any time soon.
I am convinced that at this point, with all of the advances in computer tech, and with all the standardization of components, brand is becoming more and more irrelevant. It’s much more about which manufacturer is willing to give you more at the same price (or the same features at a lower price).
Questions which require opinions go in IMHO. Moved.
samclem GQ moderator
I have a one year old HP Pavilion dv5000, and it has been trouble free. (Lots of bloatware, though!) I haven’t had to deal with their support group, so I can’t offer any insight in that department. I was on the fence about what to get until I saw a sale at Best Buy that saved me something like $300, and that was the deciding factor.
Why are those two brands the only options? Why not IBM/Lenovo, Toshiba, Dell, and for that matter Apple?
Out of the two mentioned, I would say HP. I had a gateway and it died out pretty quickly. I had a problem with the port the power plugged into, and that was annoying but could be fixed a little, then the motherboard died less than 4 months later. My new HP is doing good, but only 2 months old so far.
I would buy a mac, but I’m waiting till I’m out of school and living in a set place with a set job before we upgrade to all mac.
Brendon
One of the biggest things for me in a laptop is build quality and keyboard layout. These days, it seems the popular thing to do is to realign the Insert/Delete/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn keys vertically along the right side of the keyboard. Call me what you will, but it drives me nuts, and it has actually affected my purchase decisions. Most builders are doing the keyboard like this nowadays though, even HP, whose products I can’t speak ill of. Given the choice between them, I’d go HP no doubt.
I kicked the tires on a few Gateway notebooks recently and was amazed to discover that pressing down on the keyboard caused the whole keyboard to flex up and down like it was mounted on the cheapest piece of flimsy plastic that they could afford to make it out of. This may not bother some, but such cheapo build quality is an instant red flag in my book. If that’s how flimsy the keyboard is, I don’t even want to know how flimsy the rest of it is.
I currently own a Dell XPS M1710 because the build quality compared to other manufacturers is incredible and the keyboard is properly laid out. It’s got a helluva graphics card and 2GB of memory and plays games better than my regular computer, but I’m crazy and wanted [needed] an overkill laptop. Still, the same chassis can be had from Dell’s midrange Inspiron line in a not-so-overkill configuration. I didn’t used to be a big Dell advocate, but the build quality of their XPS and Inspiron notebooks is top of the line compared to the stuff you’ll find off the shelf, IMO. They have a sturdy feel, which is important to me. Not too sure about the cheaper Latitude models though, they used to be kinda pukey but I haven’t tried the latest ones. I suggest checking out their products at one of those Dell mall kiosks just to compare before you go buy something off a shelf. Dell doesn’t put a ton of pre-installed crap on theirs either, but you can rest assured you’ll be knee deep in pre-installed garbage if you get an off-the-shelf unit. I’ve been through many laptops, so I speak from experience, and I can say that Dells really aren’t that shabby.
I have an HP.
I like it. My major complaint is all the crapware. They installed TONS of games that you’re supposed to play through some HP server. They installed their own jukebox program, their own photo processing program. It’s a mess.
And, I’ve tried going through several times to remove stuff I don’t need. So, one time I accidentally removed the speaker drivers, or something. I had no sound and I had to re-install from the 'net.
And, apparently there’s some conflict between our HP printer and Norton anti-virus, so that every time I try to shut down I get one of these “program not responding. . .” message boxes.
However, for all I know gateway has all the same shit.
But, a lot of stuff worked right out of the box. Wireless networking was easy. Using the digital camera was easy. It has a nice display and nice sound.
Of the two, I would take Gateway. HP is more common often because they are cheaper. But IMHO the HP’s seem to have more long haul problems and seem a little less resilient to rough handling. The HP machines I have seen seem to look nicer, but don’t let the style of the case guide you.
Something else to consider, All Gateway tech support for the last couple years is now US based, so if you have trouble with the often heavily accented tech support people of the common offshore support types, gateway has an added plus.
As far as Gateway sending out boards, those machines should have been shipped to gateway for warranty repairs, no manufacturer would ever expect an end user to be able to swap notebook motherboards, thats a guaranteed warranty disaster of biblical proportions.
If you want a solid laptop take a long hard look at either as mentioned above a Dell XPS line or Toshiba.
I have also seen some IBM lenovos that survived through some horrific abuse that killed the hard drive but left the machine otherwise intact. I personally do not like the look and feel but they are sturdy little buggers.
That norton/printer issue is not an HP issue at all but a Symantec/HP issue.
Removal of Norton will solve that problem nicely, replace with AVG. 
I might. I paid for a 2 year contract of Norton, but I really hate that conflict.
AVG is free for personal home use, ya?
I have a HP dv4000. It’s been hauled in a backpack on 180mi long motorcycle trips 4 days a week for two years and is still going strong. It is used every single day all day; I use it in the morning for my class notes and then it goes across town for my husband to use for his class notes. The outside looks a little worse for wear but it still functions perfectly. We used to it to watch DVDs in bed for a long time, too.
My FiL has a Gateway and I hate it because of its key configuration (CTRL is swapped out with FN, pissed me off the few times I borrowed it). Otherwise it seems like an OK machine, although it’s a very cheap model and he doesn’t use it often. Like once a month, if that.
Personally I want an Apple or a Toshiba for myself, but I haven’t got the cake at the moment.
If all goes well, I’m buying a MacBook Pro tomorrow (tomorrow! 
) and I’ll let people know what I think of it. (Didn’t want to get Vista…)
Are you a Windows user, Sunspace? Just curious what platform you’re coming from as you begin with OSX … assuming you’ve never used it before.