i have had a gateway 4026gz since last summer and it has been one of the best $450 investments i have made in a while. it is rock sold in terms of performance, and it is nice and thin/lite. the only problem i have had is with a key getting stuck down on the keyboard, so i called gateway up and they overnighted me a whole new keyboard and paid for the return shipping on the damaged keyboard. could not ask for better customer service. and when i called the rep spoke PERFECT english with no accent (don't know where gateway has their call center, but the person i talked to definetly did not sound indian at all)
i think gateways are great, i say go for it.
which model are you looking at>