I have had 3 Gateways since Windows 95 up to 2003 and had very good luck. My 2003 Averatec worked fine and is still working but it is slow, has a really crummy sound and a so so keyboard. I bought it because it was the smallest laptop that I could afford at the time, and I wanted to bring it to Spain. It has served its purpose and I still use it for my Magic Jack. I have been happy with my 3 year old Windows 7 Dell so far. I guess luck has a lot to do with how happy one is with his or her choice.
I would buy a Mac but they are still expensive in comparison to a Windows machine.
RoRo :