The Gateways are very good buy right now (both their Pentium M and Athlon 64 models) as they are being very competitive with HP/Compaq at least at retail (Best buy).
Note that you get a multiformat DVD burner on the gateway (DVD + on retail HP's only but you can get multiformat DVD burners at hpshopping.com custom) and also you get an ATI 9600 video card which is superior to the ATI 9200 at the same 64mb dedicated video (and will give better gaming and video program response).
Note that Costco has a Gateway model similar to this ()Athlon 64, 15.4" widescreen) for $1199 but it does not have the DVD burner (has DVD-ROM, CD-RW instead which is worth about $100-$150 less). Costco has a 6 month return policy while Best buy and most retailers is 14 days with a restocking fee unless defective.
So, if you like the Gateway consider that. If you want to consider the HP/Compaq (any model) you should price it at hpshopping.com which has a 30 day return policy (and they pay return shipping) for any reason. Also, there are a ton of discounts like 6% student APP, mail in rebates, coupon codes, etc. See R3000forums.com (Compaq AThlon 64 and sister HP model) for best pricing and specs.
hi what do you think about this system, I was going for HP zt 3000 but they have removed the 5400 rpm HDD,which was available for only 25$ more, apart from that, and its lightweight it did not justify its price now that the 100$ rebate is not there.
Its available at Best Buy now for 150 $ instant rebate.
Reg. Price: $1,399.99
You Save: $150.00
Sale: $1,249.99
Product Height 1.6" b (thinner than HPzv3000 1.8")
Product Weight 7.5 lbs ( lighter than HP at 7.9 lb)
Processor Brand Mobile AMD Athlon 64
Processor Speed 2.0GHz
Display Type Ultrabright WXGA
Screen Size 15.4"
System Bus 1600MHz
Cache Memory 1MB on die Level 2
System Memory (RAM) 512MB
Type of Memory (RAM) PC2700 DDR SoDIMM
Hard Drive Size 80.0GB
Optical Drive Multiformat DVD

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic